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Advantages and Disadvantages

Home » Thermocouples » Introduction to RTD’s » Advantages and Disadvantages
Read further about RTD’s:
  • Metal
  • Temperature Coefficient
  • Resistance Measurement
  • Possible Errors and Precautions
  • Self Heating
  • Response Time
  • Temperature Calculations
  • Advantages and Disadvantages
8

RTD Advantages and Disadvantages

The major advantages that an RTD has over Thermocouples are: Stability, Precision, and Repeatability. The disadvantages are the price and response time. The following table explains in more detail.

Sensor Advantages Disadvantages
Thermocouple  Simple
Inexpensive
Large variety
Large temperature range
Rugged
« Self-powered »
 Non linear
Low voltage
Require reference
Less stable
RTD  More Stable
More accurate
More linear
 Expensive
Current source required
Small
Self heating
Small base resistance
Criteria Thermocouple RTD
Cost Low High
Temperature range Very large -450 à 4200 F Large -400 à 1200 F
Interchangeability Good Excellent
Long term Stability Fair Good
Accuracy Medium High
Sensibility (Output) Low Medium
Sensibility (tip) Excellent Fair
Response time Medium to fast Medium
Linearity Fair Good
Self heating None Low
Extension cable effect High Medium
Sensor dimension Very small to very large Small to medium

Stability is the ability of a sensor to measure temperature with precision for a given length of time.

Repeatability characteristics of a temperature sensor represents the ability of the sensor to keep the same physical behaviour for any give temperature even though it has been used and exposed to different temperatures. In other words, it’s ability to conserve it’s stability even after many heating and cooling cycles.

Precision and Tolerances (Compared to Thermocouples)

Download our bilingual document in Excel format.

8

RTD Advantages and Disadvantages

The major advantages that an RTD has over Thermocouples are: Stability, Precision, and Repeatability. The disadvantages are the price and response time. The following table explains in more detail.

Sensor Advantages Disadvantages
Thermocouple

 Simple

Inexpensive

Large variety

Large temperature range

Rugged

« Self-powered »

 Non linear

Low voltage

Require reference

Less stable

RTD

 More Stable

More accurate

More linear

 Expensive

Current source required

Small

Self heating

Small base resistance

Criteria Thermocouple RTD
Cost Low High
Temperature range Very large -450 à 4200 F Large -400 à 1200 F
Interchangeability Good Excellent
Long term Stability Fair Good
Accuracy Medium High
Sensibility (Output) Low Medium
Sensibility (tip) Excellent Fair
Response time Medium to fast Medium
Linearity Fair Good
Self heating None Low
Extension cable effect High Medium
Sensor dimension Very small to very large Small to medium

Stability is the ability of a sensor to measure temperature with precision for a given length of time.

Repeatability characteristics of a temperature sensor represents the ability of the sensor to keep the same physical behaviour for any give temperature even though it has been used and exposed to different temperatures. In other words, it’s ability to conserve it’s stability even after many heating and cooling cycles.

Precision and Tolerances (Compared to Thermocouples)

Download our bilingual document in Excel format.

Read further about RTD’s:
  • Metal
  • Temperature Coefficient
  • Resistance Measurement
  • Possible Errors and Precautions
  • Self Heating
  • Response Time
  • Temperature Calculations
  • Advantages and Disadvantages

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