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on April 30, 2020
Thermocouple, Thermoelectric Emission, Thermoelectric Effect
PRODUCTION OF ELECTRICITY
Electricity can be produced through different methods.
- Mechanical e.g Bicycle dynamo, Electric generator
- Heat energy e.g Thermocouple
- Solar Energy e.g solar cell
- Chemical Energy e.g Electric cells
Production of electricity from Heat energy e.g Thermocouple
Thermocouple
A thermocouple is practically used to measure temperature in an electrical installations
A thermocouple convert heat energy to Electrical Energy , thereby send the electrical equivalent of the heat to a control system.
Thermocouple Design
An Electrical current can be produced when two different wires are joined end to end e.g copper and iron . one junction is placed in an ice (cold junction) and the other junction in hot water.
see figure 1 above
Electricity can be produced by the process of Thermoelectric Effect or Emission , a process whereby electrons is emitted by heat and move from one point to another as a result of temperature difference in the two junctions.
The greater the temperature difference between the junctions the greater the electric current. This property is used in construction of practical thermocouples to measure temperature in control circuits to control ON and OFF of heaters. For example to measure a melted polymer at 250C temperature in a plastic industry , a thermocouple is inserted in a barrel. One end of the thermocouple is in the hot melted polymer and the other end is in cold region or room temperature..
fig 2 above
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