The other day, from a famous Chinese site, I received an infrared pyrometer. On the one hand, it is not quite a car gadget, because it is widely used. On the other hand, it was for the car to control the temperature of the battery and say, cooling system. However, many people do not know what it is and how it works. Today is not a complicated, but definitely useful article, in which I will tell you about the principle of work.
Pyrometer, what is it?
ARTICLE CONTENT:
- Instrument design
- How the pyrometer works
- About the error and temperature of the work
- About the application in the car
First of all, as usual, the definition.
A pyrometer is a device for remotely measuring temperature from the surface of any material (even human skin).
Appearance
In simple terms, it is a non-contact thermometer that measures heat radiation very quickly.
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The design of the device.
Nowadays, there are just a lot of thermometers and other devices that read (measure) the temperature from the surface. But often they all have a contact scheme of work.
The pyrometer works in a completely different way. It captures the heat waves that radiate the surface.
In the design of the device, there is a special "socket" here and the radiation from the surface comes. Then at the very beginning of the "socket", there is a pyrometric sensor, in which the thermal energy is converted into an electrical pulse. The higher the temperature emitted from the surface, the more pulses will be generated by the sensor, after which they are transformed according to special algorithms and displayed on the liquid crystal display in the form of indications.
Posterboard
Every pyrometer has its own permissible length of work. If you exceed this distance, the readings may deviate by a relatively large percentage. Ideally, the manufacturer will write down how far you should measure. And also what percentage of deviation will be with the increase of work.
How the pyrometer works
The principle is very simple. Most models have a laser dot to see the surface from which you are reading.
Trigger
Pulling the trigger activates the point, and the heat radiation readings are taken very quickly. The temperature is then shown on the display.
Readings
By the way, the laser dot can be turned off by turning off the display backlight.
The pyrometer is often powered by two-finger batteries (type "AA") or pinky batteries (type "AAA").
About the error and temperature of the work
Pyrometers also differ inaccuracy, there are more accurate - but expensive models, if less accurate - but much cheaper. Here, much depends on the quality of the sensor used in the design.
It is worth noting that there are so-called medical pyrometers, they are always a little more expensive (only expensive sensors are used there), and they are able to read the temperature from the skin with a minimum error, for example, many industrial devices such as this is not available (the error they have more).
In my model, and it is the simplest one, the error is 1.5% or as the manufacturer assures 1.5 - 2 degrees Celsius when using the recommended distance (for my pyrometer it is 300 mm). The point is that the radiation spot at this distance is only 38 mm.
When the distance is increased to 900 mm, the spot is 75 mm. And at 1500 mm, the spot is 132 mm. When the distance from 400 mm begins to decrease accuracy. The sighting spot should be 35 - 38 mm, which is achieved exactly at a distance of 30 cm from the surface.
Also, do not forget about the maximum temperature limits, if the plus is good here, it's about "+380" degrees Celsius. That's the minus is only at the level of "-50", and in the cold region can bend lower, so be careful.
About the application in the car
Personally, I took it to measure different temperatures in the car. For example, you can measure the temperature of the battery in winter, you know, sometimes it is necessary to determine how your battery warms up under the hood! And as you and I both know, when it's freezing, the battery is not very good at charging. But you need to measure the temperature of the battery precisely, say, when the engine is 10 minutes warm or 20 - 30 minutes away. You will not stick a thermometer in it!
Вattery temperature
Also, the pyrometer is very useful in engine cooling systems, especially in winter, when you do not have an oven (blowing cold), and you do not understand why. So you can measure the temperature before and after the thermostat.
By the way, many people check the performance of the catalyst, there is a method - to warm the car well, driving for 20-30 minutes on the road. Then take a pyrometer, and check the temperature before the catalyst (welding seam) and after (also at the welding seam), if the temperature after the catalyst is lower or the same, it is clogged and does not work!
It is for the machine that this temperature meter is simply necessary, as I believe.
YES and in life often I will measure the temperature of sockets, wires and other electric subjects. This will help to calculate the load.