[AR] Re: Best Practices for Measuring Engine Temps with a Thermocouple

  • From: Eric Boyer <jeb19@xxxxxxx>
  • To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 16:20:34 -0400

At 01:34 PM 10/21/2013, you wrote:
Eric,

Does "spark-weld" have a specific technical meaning or are you using
it to refer to electrically welding in a generic way?

Ben

Ben,

By "spark-weld", I specifically mean capacitive-discharge welding. Omega no longer sells single-bead microthermocouples (now twisted junction only) and we often need custom configurations for various mounts and probes, so we've built a home-rolled unit at my lab. It's essentially a variant of the thermocouple welders you can get commercially (such as from Omega: http://www.omega.com/pptst/tl_weld.html), with finer spatial and electrical controls. Since we generally use use 125-micron (0.005") wire and smaller, we have a stereo microscope and a couple of XYZ positioning stages to hold and move the wires into the graphite electrode to form the junction (instead of the needle-nose pliers most commercial units seem to utilize). The arc characteristics and spark discharge strength can be controlled by varying the capacitance and charging voltage.

Gotta limit my caffeine intake on days I'm working with that rig...

Eric


On Mon, Oct 21, 2013 at 8:20 AM, Eric Boyer <jeb19@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> At 07:36 PM 10/18/2013, Henry Vanderbilt wrote:
>>
>> Yes, I was careful to weasel-word that and not say it was outright
>> impossible, because I *knew* someone would take that as a challenge <grin>
>>
>> But until Omega lists W/Re TC's as a stock item, I think I'm fairly safe
>> in calling it thoroughly impractical.
>
>
>
> http://www.omega.com/pptst/www26_w5w26_w3w25.html
> :-)
>
> We actually use W/Re TCs (Type C or D) fairly frequently in combustion
> research. We get them either pre-made or spark-weld them ourselves
> (especially the really small ones for better time/spatial resolution).
> Gotta make sure they don't get even a whiff of anything oxidizing when at
> high temperature, though--ever see how fast the filament of a broken
> incandescent light bulb disappears?  Yeah, it's like that.
>
> Eric
>
>
>
>> On 10/18/2013 4:27 PM, George Herbert wrote:
>>>
>>> Tungsten melts at 3,400 K; it looks like peroxide motors should stay
>>> under that, LOX/Kero at Pc of say 150-250 PSI might be under it (but not
>>> much), LOX/alcohol should stay under it.
>>>
>>> Rhenium is around 3,150 K, you could find propellant combinations that
>>> would stay under that as well, so perhaps a W/Re TC?
>>>
>>> But yes, this is edging into the "You just can't do that" trade space,
>>> when we're having to look at the lowest temp propellants people here
>>> might use and the highest temp metals available on the face of the
>>> earth...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 3:08 PM, Henry Vanderbilt
>>> <hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>>>
>>>     I think the most ambitious thing we were talking about so far is
>>>     directly TC measuring chamber wall temperature, which is merely
>>>     really really hard.  Direct measurement of chamber gas temperature
>>>     with a TC is pretty much impossible, since the chamber gas in any
>>>     halfway efficient rocket motor tends to be hotter than the melting
>>>     temperature of just about any material you can name.
>>>
>>>     Henry
>>>
>>>
>>>     On 10/18/2013 1:54 PM, johndom@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:johndom@xxxxxxxxx>
>>>     wrote:
>>>
>>>         I wonder what commercial TC can measure the inside of a firing
>>>         chamber where
>>>         uncooled stainless sensor protection tubing simply melts. Yes
>>>         soldering it
>>>         to the regenatively cooled wall is an option, but that is not
>>>         the chamber
>>>         gas temperature at all.
>>>
>>>         jd
>>>
>>>         -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
>>>         Van: arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>         <mailto:arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>         [mailto:arocket-bounce@__freelists.org
>>>         <mailto:arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]
>>>         Namens Norman Yarvin
>>>         Verzonden: vrijdag 18 oktober 2013 21:00
>>>         Aan: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>         Onderwerp: [AR] Re: Best Practices for Measuring Engine Temps
>>> with a
>>>         Thermocouple
>>>
>>>         On Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 08:11:18AM -0400, Ed Kelleher wrote:
>>>
>>>             A Swagelok 1/8" tube fitting, with 1/8" diameter
>>>             stainless steel shell thermocouple (TC) will seal
>>>             up nicely, though part of the fitting remains
>>>             permanently attached to the TC.  You can remove
>>>             the TC and use it on other thrust chambers, but
>>>             it will be locked into that initial position/extension.
>>>
>>>
>>>         One thing to remember about such setups, though, is the limits
>>>         of the
>>>         theory behind why it's okay to weld a thermocouple to the chamber
>>> in
>>>         the first place (as opposed to keeping it electrically isolated
>>>         like a
>>>         normal sensor).  The theory is that as long as all the hot-end
>>>         junctions between dissimilar metals are at the same temperature,
>>> it
>>>         doesn't matter how many junctions there are: their effect nets
>>>         out to
>>>         zero.  So if you have part of the current going from
>>>         thermocouple lead
>>>         A directly to thermocouple lead B, and another part of it going
>>>         through the chamber wall C, it doesn't matter how much current
>>>         goes by
>>>         which path, because all the junctions between A, B, and C are all
>>> at
>>>         about the same temperature.  Or at least they are, to a decent
>>> first
>>>         approximation, when you're measuring the outside of the chamber.
>>>
>>>         If you're trying to measure the temperature of the inside of the
>>>         chamber wall, on the other hand, you need to electrically
>>>         isolate the
>>>         thermocouple from the outside of the chamber wall.  Otherwise
>>> you'll
>>>         get some mix of inside and outside temperatures, the details
>>> being
>>>         dependent on exactly what currents are flowing where.  (Well,
>>>         the heat
>>>         equation being what it is, you'll be getting a mix anyway, not
>>> the
>>>         temperature of the very innermost micron of the surface.  But
>>> this
>>>         will make it much worse.)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> -george william herbert
>>> george.herbert@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:george.herbert@xxxxxxxxx>
>>
>>
>
> _____________________________________________________________
> Eric Boyer                                              jeb19@xxxxxxx
>


------------------------
Eric Boyer Assistant Director, High Pressure Combustion Lab Research Associate Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering
(814) 863-2264                  Penn State University
jeb19@xxxxxxx           University Park, PA  16802


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