Air temperature sensor: operating principle and application

A variety of instruments are used to measure environmental parameters. One of them is an air temperature sensor . It is widely used in a wide variety of areas: mobile and stationary meteorological stations, industrial enterprises, in facilities for monitoring technological parameters, in household appliances, laboratory measurements, etc. Its use makes it possible to perform measurements with high accuracy in a wide variety of environments, often inaccessible to humans. The air temperature sensor can be closed or open version. It depends on the conditions of its operation. They also differ in the very principle of the measurements being made. This affects the speed and accuracy of this device. It is also necessary to note constructive features, they are as close as possible to working conditions.

For convenience, it is possible to qualify different types of sensors according to the principle of their operation. Depending on this, all the main characteristics of this device change.

• Depending on the ambient temperature, the internal resistance of the materials will also change. This property has long been noticed by the developers of so-called thermoresistive elements. Over time, the quality of these devices improved due to the use of ever more advanced materials as an active element. The air temperature sensor of this type operates in a wide measuring range. Such devices behave perfectly in low-current circuits and are in good agreement with electronic circuits, which simplifies the development of equipment for signal processing. The disadvantages include the nonlinearity of the characteristics and the low accuracy in the measurements.
• If a semiconductor element is used instead of a thermistor, then To achieve a significant increase in the accuracy of the measurements. This property was also incorporated into instruments of this kind. The outdoor temperature sensor, as the active element in which the semiconductor operates, has only one drawback. This is a small measurement range (-55C - + 155C).
• Thermoelectric converters have good performance characteristics. These are so-called thermocouples, widely used both in production and in everyday life. An air temperature sensor of this type can be seen, for example, in a sauna. They are reliable and durable in operation. The disadvantages of such devices can be attributed, perhaps, to the ability to work only in the positive temperature range.

In addition to the above, there are also so-called pyrometers and acoustic sensors. The former are used for remote measurements of heated bodies, while the latter are used for gauges of different temperatures.

As you can see, air temperature sensors are of a very different design, and their operation is designed taking into account all the technical characteristics of the device. They work well with modern electronic equipment and are used in a variety of areas.