UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS FACULTY OF ENGINEERING Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS (ELEC 1005)

Experiment 3: Resistive Temperature Detector (RTD)

1. Objectives: (a)To investigate the self-heating characteristics of a platinum resistive temperature transducer, (b) To obtain the resistance-temperature characteristics of the RTD 2. Experiment (a): Self-Heating Effect Of The Platinum RTD

2.1 Self-heating effect Recall that the when current is passed through a resistive transducer, the latter dissipates thermal power and its temperature rises. Hence, if the transducer is being used to measure the temperature of a medium, its resistance will change due to both the measurand and the temperature rise from self-heating. This would cause errors in the measured temperature. It is therefore important to quantify the temperature rise due to current flow in the transducer so that self-heating effect can be limited to a known value. In this experiment, it is required to determine the power dissipation from a platinum RTD, due to current flow, that will cause a temperature rise of 1 C of the transducer. This is called the dissipation constant of the transducer. 2.2 Procedure
0

(i) Construct the circuit shown in Figure 1. Follow the pin-out of the OPAMP Integrated Circuit (IC) provided and note that it operates with a dual power supply of 15 V. CAUTION: Have your circuit checked before switching on the power supply
(ii) Connect a digital voltmeter across terminals X and Y of the bridge. (iii) Adjust the potentiometer P1 so that the voltage applied to the bridge, Vs = 0.5 V. (iv) Place the RTD in air at room temperature. (v) Connect the digital voltmeter across the amplifier output to read Vout. (vi) Adjust the resistance box, Rb, so that the bridge is balanced and gives Vout = 0 V, and record Rb. (vii) Adjust the potentiometer P1 so that the voltage applied to the bridge, Vs = 1.5 V. (viii) Wait for the temperature of the RTD to rise to steady state for about 30 seconds. (ix) Readjust the resistance box, Rb, so that the bridge is balanced and gives Vout = 0 V, and record Rb.

(x) For each set of readings ( (vi) and (ix) ), determine the resistance of the RTD, RT.

X +15 V 220 1 k

Resistance Box, Rb
10 k

1 M

P1 1K

270

Vs
+ 10 k +

V
1 M
out

RT
1 k

RTD

0V Y

Figure 1

2.3 Results (i) From the bridge circuit shown in Figure 1, calculate the power dissipations from the sensor in mW, when Vs = 0.5 V, and 1.5 V, respectively. (ii) Assuming the temperature coefficient of the RTD to be 0.0004/ C and that its resistance at 0 C is 100 , determine the dissipation constant in mW/ C, based on the definition in Section 2.1. (iii) Use your result for the dissipation constant to determine the value of Vs that would cause a maximum self-heating error of 0.2 C. 3. Experiment (b): Resistance-Temperature Characteristics of Platinum RTD In this experiment, the variation of the RTD resistance with temperature is investigated. The results are then compared with the theoretical characteristics. 3.1 Procedure (i) After mounting the circuit shown in Figure 1, use potentiometer P1 to adjust the supply voltage, Vs, to 1V. (ii) Place the RTD in melting ice, together with a mercury thermometer. (iii) Record the thermometer reading, T, balance the bridge to give Vout = 0 V. (iv) Record the value of Rb. (v) Place the RTD and thermometer in hot water. (vi) Repeat steps (iii) and (iv) for temperatures in the range 90 C to 5 C, at 5 C intervals. NOTE: For each reading, Vs should be readjusted to 1 V.
0 0 0 0 0 0 0

3.2 Results (i) Plot a graph of RT against T, using the readings obtained in Section 3.1. (ii) From the graph, determine the value of the RTD resistances, R0 and R100. (iii) Plot the actual characteristics of the RTD, given by RT = R0(1 + 0.00398T 5.88 x 10 T ), on the same axes as the above graph.
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4. Questions (i) How would the results in Section 3 be affected if the balance conditions were measured across the bridge output itself? (ii) Comment on the shape of the graphs obtained in Sections 3.2, with comparison between actual and theoretical characteristics. (iii) Explain the discrepancies, if any, between the theoretical and experimental values.