SAE AIR65

Thermoelectric Circuits and the Performance of Several Aircraft Engine Thermocouples

Month of publication: 1958-08-01

Date reaffirmed: February 1992

Developed by committee: E-32 Aerospace Propulsion Systems Health Management

Annotation and contents

Source of this annotation and contents: SAE.

The NET EMF of a thermoelectric circuit can be thought of as originating entirely in the regions of temperature gradient. Any extraneous materials, such as switch or connector terminals, in a temperature gradient may cause an error in the temperature measurement. In addition to circuitry errors, jet engine thermocouple indications require correction for the effects of conduction, radiation, response rate, and gas velocity. The magnitudes of the corrections depend on the thermocouple design and the environmental conditions. Performance curves for several typical jet engine thermocouples are presented, with the methods of making the various corrections.