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Thermocouple Scale Factor

Hi,
As I learned in Basic I & II, 100 is the scale facto to measure thermocouple. Is this valid for all type or just the device at the training center.
I am reading thermo Type K as a voltage with scale of 100 but the reading is .4 V instead of 70 deg c. The range set to 25-100 C.
My Q is: Do you have to do some measurment to set the scale factor to the right number?
Thanks 
 
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Message 1 of 6
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On Oct 30, 12:40 pm, Alexx631 <x...@no.email> wrote:
> Hi,
> As I learned in Basic I &amp; II, 100 is the scale facto to measure thermocouple. Is this valid for all type or just the device at the training center.
> I am reading thermo Type K as a voltage with scale of 100 but the reading is .4 V instead of 70 deg c. The range set to 25-100 C.
> My Q is: Do you have to do some measurment to set the scale factor to the right number?
> Thanks&nbsp;
> &nbsp;

Do you know what temp at the thermocouple to copper junction is? This
will offset your reading from the lookup table which is proably rated
for a junction temp of 0°C.

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Message 2 of 6
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On Oct 30, 12:40 pm, Alexx631 <x...@no.email> wrote:
> Hi,
> As I learned in Basic I &amp; II, 100 is the scale facto to measure thermocouple. Is this valid for all type or just the device at the training center.
> I am reading thermo Type K as a voltage with scale of 100 but the reading is .4 V instead of 70 deg c. The range set to 25-100 C.
> My Q is: Do you have to do some measurment to set the scale factor to the right number?
> Thanks&nbsp;
> &nbsp;

Do you know what temp at the thermocouple to copper junction is?
This
will offset your reading from the lookup table which is proably rated
for a junction temp of 0°C.

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Message 3 of 6
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What device are you using to measure the voltage from the thermocouple? Are you using a National Instruments DAQ board, or something else to input the voltage to the PC? Is the voltage from the thermocouple amplified by anything before you measure it? That would help a great deal in determining the answer to your question.

But this might be useful info:
According to this website: http://www.picotech.com/applications/thermocouple.html
Type K (Chromel / Alumel)
Type K is the 'general purpose' thermocouple. It is low cost and, owing to its popularity, it is available in a wide variety of probes. Thermocouples are available in the -200 °C to +1200 °C range. Sensitivity is approx 41 µV/°C. Use type K unless you have a good reason not to.
So, at 100°C, without any amplification, the thermocouple would output a voltage of
.000041V/°C * 300°C = 0.0123V (the TC range starts at -200, so add 200 to the desired temp)
And at 25°C, the TC output would be
.000041V/°C * 225°C = 0.009225V

So, I would say that you have some kind of device that is amplifying your TC to a higher voltage. Therefore, you need to know what that amplification factor is before converting that voltage to a temperature. If, just as an example, you have a circuit or box that inputs a TC voltage and outputs 10mV/°C, then your 25-100°C range would be .250V - 1.00V. In that case, the .010 is your scale factor, and your 0.4V output would translate to 40°C. Again, that depends on the hardware you are using.

Does that help at all, or just confuse you more?

B-)

.

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On Oct 30, 12:50 pm, chip.f...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Oct 30, 12:40 pm, Alexx631 <x...@no.email> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> > As I learned in Basic I &amp; II, 100 is the scale facto to measure thermocouple. Is this valid for all type or just the device at the training center.
> > I am reading thermo Type K as a voltage with scale of 100 but the reading is .4 V instead of 70 deg c. The range set to 25-100 C.
> > My Q is: Do you have to do some measurment to set the scale factor to the right number?
> > Thanks&nbsp;
> > &nbsp;
>
> Do you know what temp at the thermocouple to copper junction is?
> This
> will offset your reading from the lookup table which is proably rated
> for a junction temp of 0°C.


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Message 5 of 6
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 Hi Alexx631,

 The scaling will take into account the thermocouple gain and the copper-thermocouple junction temperature.

 If you use an example such as Acq Thermocouple Sample from the NI Example Finder then you can see they
create a Analog Input Temperature Thermocouple task. This tells DAQmx to perform the scaling and take into
account the CJC temperature.

 The CJC can be a constant or taken from a temperature sensor which is located physically at the Thermocouple/Breakout box junction.

 The SCB-68 and SCC-68 are example's of NI breakout box which incorporates a temperature sensor for built in CJC.

 In your case, it sounds your performing a analog input voltage reading. This will return the raw voltage output of
the thermocouple + the voltage offset generated by the thermocouple and copper junction.

I would suggest taking a look at the Acq Thermocouple Sample example from the NI Example Finder.

Thanks, please do post back if you still have questions.

Best regards,

MatthewW
Applications Engineer
National Instruments



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