Seebeck

Type J thermocouples (Table 11.58) are one of the most common types of industrial thermocouples because of the relatively high Seebeck coefficient and low cost. They are recommended for use in the temperature range from 0 to 760°C (but never above 760°C due to an abrupt magnetic transformation that can cause decalibration even when returned to lower temperatures). Use is permitted in vacuum and in oxidizing, reducing, or inert atmospheres, with the exception of sulfurous atmospheres above 500°C. For extended use above 500°C, heavy-gauge wires are recommended. They are not recommended for subzero temperatures. These thermocouples are subject to poor conformance characteristics because of impurities in the iron. 

Called the Seebeck coefficient. It is given here at the high-temperature end of the range many thermocouples are nonlinear. 

In 1857, Thomson (Lord Kelvin) placed the whole field on firmer footing by using the newly developing field of thermodynamics (qv) to clarify the relationship between the Seebeck and the Peltier effects. He also discovered what is subsequently known as the Thomson effect, a much weaker thermoelectric phenomenon that causes the generation or absorption of heat, other than Joule heat, along a current-carrying conductor in a temperature gradient. 

The primary thermoelectric phenomena considered in practical devices are the reversible Seebeck, Peltier, and, to a lesser extent, Thomson effects, and the irreversible Eourier conduction and Joule heating. The Seebeck effect causes a voltage to appear between the ends of a conductor in a temperature gradient. The Seebeck coefficient, L, is given by... 

Because the third law of thermodynamics requires S = 0 at absolute zero, the following equation is derived, which enables the determination of the absolute value of the Seebeck coefficient for a material without the added complication of a second conductor ... 

Voltage measurement have been made at very low temperatures using a superconductor as one leg of a thermocouple. Eor a superconductor, S is zero, so the output of the couple is entirely from the active leg. The Thomson heat is then measured at higher temperatures to extend the absolute values of the Seebeck coefficients (7,8). The Thomson heat is generally an order of magnitude less than the Peltier heat and is often neglected in device design calculations. 

Thermocouples Temperature measurements using thermocouples are based on the discovery by Seebeck in 1821 that an electric current flows in a continuous circuit of two different metalhc wires if the two junctions are at different temperatures. The thermocouple may be represented diagrammaticaUy as shown in Fig. 8-60. A and B are the two metals, and T and To are the temperatures of the junctions. Let T and To be the reference junction (cold junction) and the measuring junc tion, respectively. If the thermoelectric current i flows in the direc tion indicated in Fig. 8-60, metal A is customarily referred to as thermoelectricaUy positive to metal B. Metal pairs used for thermocouples include platinum-rhodium (the most popular and accurate), cmromel-alumel, copper-constantan, and iron-constantan. The thermal emf is a measure of the difference in temperature between To and T. In control systems the reference junction is usually located at... 

After this, there was a long period of quiescence, broken by a new bout of innovation in the 1990s. Thermoelectric efficiency depends on physical parameters through a dimensionless of merit, ZT, where Z = S lKp. Here S is the Seebeck... 

Thermocouples are primarily based on the Seebeck effect In an open circuit, consisting of two wires of different materials joined together at one end, an electromotive force (voltage) is generated between the free wire ends when subject to a temperature gradient. Because the voltage is dependent on the temperature difference between the wires (measurement) junction and the free (reference) ends, the system can be used for temperature measurement. Before modern electronic developments, a real reference temperature, for example, a water-ice bath, was used for the reference end of the thermocouple circuit. This is not necessary today, as the reference can be obtained electronically. Thermocouple material pairs, their temperature-electromotive forces, and tolerances are standardized. The standards are close to each other but not identical. The most common base-metal pairs are iron-constantan (type J), chomel-alumel (type K), and copper-constantan (type T). Noble-metal thermocouples (types S, R, and B) are made of platinum and rhodium in different mixing ratios. 

In 1821, Thomas Seebeck, an Estonian physician, discovered the existence of an electric current in a closed circuit consisting of unlike conductors, when the junctions between the conductors were at different temperatures. This discovei y is the basis for ther-... 

Seebeck s outstanding scientific achievement was the discovei"y of one of the three classical thermoelectric effects, which are the Seebeck, the Peltier, and the Thomson effects. Seebeck s discovery was the first, dating from 1822—1823, followed by that of Jean-Charles-Athanase Peltier in 1832 and that of William Thomson in 1854. Seebeck obseiwed that an electric current in a closed circuit comprised different metallic components if he heated the junctions of the components to different temperatures. He noted that the effect increases linearly with the applied temperature difference and that it crucially depends on the choice of materials. Seebeck tested most of the available metallic materials for thermoelectricity. His studies were further systematized by the French physicist... 

Another application of the Seebeck effect is to be found ill detectors of small quantities of heat radiation. These sensitive detectors comprise a thermopile, a pile of thermocoup)les (small pieces of two different metals connected in V form and put into series). Half of the junctions of the thermopile are shielded within the detector, whereas the other half are exposed to... 

Seebeck, Thomas Johann (1770-1831) Barbara Flume-Gorezyea... 

If the two junctions of a circuit of two wires of different metals are maintained at different temperatures, Ti > T2, an electric current flows round the circuit, its direction and magnitude depending on the nature of the metals and on the temperatures (Seebeck, 1821). 

Kabanov [351] has provided an excellent review of the application of measurements of electrophysical effects in studies of the thermal decomposition of solids, including surveys of electrical conductivity, photoconductivity, dielectric measurements and interface (contact), Hall and thermal (Seebeck) potentials. Care must be exercised in applying the results obtained in such studies to the interpretation of data for thermal decomposition in the absence of an applied electric field since many examples have been given [352] in which such a field markedly influences the course of decomposition. 

In 1821, Seebeck discovered that by joining two different metal wires together to... 

Seebeck used antimony and copper wires and found the current to be affected by the measuring instrument (ammeter). But, he also found that the voltage generated (EMF) was directly proportional to the difference in temperature of the two junctions. Peltier, in 1834, then demonstrated that if a current was induced in the circuit of 7.1.3., it generated heat at the junctions. In other words, the SEEBECK EFFECT was found to be reversible. Further work led to the development of the thermocouple, which today remains the primary method for measurement of temperature. Nowadays, we know that the SEEBECK EFFECT arises because of a difference in the electronic band structure of the two metals at the junction. This is illustrated as follows ... 

The production of a current of electricity by heating a junction formed by two dissimilar metals. For temperature measurement the metals are usually in the form of wires see Thermocouple) and the circuit has two junctions, the hot junction which is exposed to the temperature to be measured and the cold junction which is kept at a standard temperature. The thermo-electric effect is also termed the Seebeck Effect after its discoverer. 

Thermoelectric effect discovered by T.J. Seebeck The Seebeck effect is the basis for the thermometers designated as thermocouples... 

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