Accurate and quickly responsive surface temperature measurement: a step to widespread non-invasive T-measurement in industry

Non-invasive temperature sensing has the potential to considerably enhance the safety and simplicity of temperature measurement in industrial process facilities. By accurately and reliably measuring the outer wall temperature of a piping conveying a liquid, the needs for a traditional invasive device can be eliminated in many common process circumstances. However, surface sensors are not widely used largely due to two factors: ambiguity of the process conditions that allow for surface measurements and inaccuracies that arise from improper device design and installation. This paper outlines the key process conditions where surface measurements would suffice. It also subsequently presents a framework for modeling a surface measurement sensor with insights on how to improve the measurement accuracy. Experiments with a device that utilizes the derived insights are presented which demonstrate temperature measurement performance equivalent to traditional invasive sensors.