Thermometer Sensor Probe Replacement

stuartX

I would like to measure the temperature of a pipe.

-Is it possible to use a wire to wrap from either the "Digital Thermometer" chip or the Sensirion Temperature/Humidity chip around the pipe to achieve this?
-Is one better than the other?
-Or is there a better way, chip or solution for this type of application?

Thanks (in advance). Any information will be appreciated.

mindrobots

Off hand, I would think you would want to have the chip in contact with the pipe in order to get the most direct temperature reading. Anything else is going to introduce heat loss (gain) based on the thermal conductance of whatever you are using to connect the chip and the pipe. Solder on some leads to make the chip pins longer, slather on some heat sink compound, slap the chip on the pipe, wrap it with insulating tape to keep it in place (and insulate it from ambient temperature effects) and don't forget to bring all the wires outside the tape somehow so you can connect it up!

Not very pretty but I think it would work.

stuartX

Thanks for the advice. I did not know the sensor was on the chip. Is that the case for both chips I mention? I thought that a probe had to be connected to the pins of the chip to input the temperature.

Thanks again.

mindrobots

You're welcome!

This is from the DS1620 data sheet:

The DS1620 Digital Thermometer and Thermostat provides 9–bit temperature readings which indicate
the temperature of the device.

You may want to wait for 2nd and 3rd opinions to see if there's a prettier solution.

Sal Ammoniac

stuartX wrote: »

I would like to measure the temperature of a pipe.

-Is it possible to use a wire to wrap from either the "Digital Thermometer" chip or the Sensirion Temperature/Humidity chip around the pipe to achieve this?
-Is one better than the other?
-Or is there a better way, chip or solution for this type of application?

Thanks (in advance). Any information will be appreciated.

As the other poster mentioned, you want to get the sensor in very good contact with the pipe and exclude any external influences, such as hot air that may be in the vicinity of the sensor. I would suggest a thermal adhesive, such as http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_thermal_adhesive.htm.

The Sensiron humidity sensor is not a good choice in this application as it is necessarily not sealed (so it can sense humidity). I would suggest something like a thermistor or an LM34/35 instead.

stuartX

Thank you for the information.

stuartX

Thanks for the thermal tape information.

kwinn

A steel hose clamp does a pretty good job of mounting a temperature sensor to a pipe as long as you do not get carried away when tightening it. Of course you still need some thermal insulation between the pipe and the ambient surroundings as well as electrical insulation for the connections.