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National Instruments Corporation
B-1
SCXI-1581 User Manual
B
Measuring Temperature with
Resistive Transducers
This appendix discusses RTDs and thermistors and describes how to
connect resistive transducers to the signal conditioning system.
RTDs
A resistive-temperature detector (RTD) is a temperature-sensing device
whose resistance increases with temperature. An RTD consists of a wire
coil or deposited film of pure metal. RTDs are made of different metals and
have different resistances, but the most popular RTD is made of platinum
and has a nominal resistance of 100
Ω
at 0 °C.
RTDs are known for their excellent accuracy over a wide temperature
range. Some RTDs have accuracies as high as 0.01
Ω
(0.026 °C) at 0 °C.
RTDs are also extremely stable devices. Common industrial RTDs drift less
than 0.1 °C/year, and some models are stable to within 0.0025 °C/year.
RTDs are sometimes difficult to measure because they have relatively low
nominal resistance (commonly 100
Ω
) that changes only slightly with
temperature (less than 0.4
Ω
/°C). To accurately measure these small
changes in resistance, you must use special configurations that minimize
measured errors caused by lead-wire resistance.
Because an RTD is a passive resistive device, you must pass a current
through it to produce a measurable voltage. This current causes the RTD to
heat internally, which appears as an error. Self-heating is typically specified
as the amount of power that raises the RTD temperature by 1 °C, given in
units of mW/°C. You can minimize self-heating by using the smallest
possible excitation current. The amount of self-heating also depends
heavily on the medium into which you immerse the RTD. An RTD can
self-heat up to 100 times higher in still air than in moving water.