Manual for Thermowell-Pseudo First Order Over-damped System

Aim: To find the time constant of a Thermowell system when subjected to a step change.

Apparatus:

1) Oil bath with a magnetic stirrer

2) Thermowell-It basically consists of a test tube containing thermometer immersed in
water surrounded by an oil atmosphere.
3) Stop-watch and a cloth to remove the oil later from the thermowell wall.

Procedure:

1) Firstly, the oil bath temperature is allowed to reach 105-1100C. Correspondingly, the
temperature indicated by the thermowell thermometer is also noted.
2) When the thermowell temperature reached 90-950C, it is suddenly exposed to the
surrounding atmosphere by removing its contact with the oil bath.
3) The stop watch is started as soon as the thermowell is taken out. However, one must
wipe out the oil layer from the thermowell walls in order to eliminate the resistance
offered by it.
4) The dynamic response of the system is recorded by noting the time taken by it to
show a drop of every 50C till the room or steady state temperature. (Initially, one can
note down the time for every 50C drop but as the temperature reaches close to the
room temperature, one can measure time taken for every 20C drop).

Theory:

Thermowell is a closed-end re-entrant tube designed for the insertion of the temperature
sensing element such as thermometer. It is provided with means for pressure tight attachment
to the vessel. The vary purpose of the thermowell systems is to protect the temperature
sensors from the fluctuations in flow rates and pressure as well as harsh environments. One of
the major advantages of such systems is that they encase the temperature sensors without
substantially insulating them from the process conditions.

A thermowell can be regarded as the system provided with an additional resistance to a

simple thermometer system at its bulb to increase its time constant. Thus, the resistance to the
heat transfer is provided by the fluid surrounding the thermowell (test tube) and the fluid
between the thermometer bulb and thermowell.
The heat balance equation for the thermometer can be written as,

Thermal Energy in=Accumulation of thermal energy

dT2
h2 A2 (T1 − T2 ) =
M 2 C2 (1)
dt

And for the thermowell system, the equation changes to,

dT1
h1 A1 (Ti − T1 ) − h2 A2 (T1 − T2 ) =
M 1C1 (2)
dt

On taking Laplace transform and after some rearrangement, the transfer function of the
thermowell system is described by the following transfer function:

T0 ( s ) 1
=
G (s) = (3)
Ti ( s ) τ 1τ 2 s + (τ 1 + τ 2 + R1C2 ) s + 1
2

In the above equation, G(s) is a transfer function relating the change in thermowell output
temperature to the inlet temperature change. τ 1 and τ 2 are the time constants of the thermowell
and thermometer bulb respectively and C2 is the thermal capacity of the bulb.In this case, we
assume he term R1C2 is negligible as the two first order systems, namely thermometer and
thermowell are assumed to be non-interacting. The above equation, hence reduces to,

T0 ( s ) 1
=
G (s) = (4)
Ti ( s ) (τ 1s + 1)(τ 2 s + 1)

In our experiment, we assume that the thermowell follows a pseudo first order response when
subjected to a following step change,

A
Ti ( s ) = (5)
S

Where, A is the temperature difference between atmosphere and initial thermowell

temperature (90-950C). Therefore, the dynamic response can be estimated as follows:

T0 (t ) =Ti − A(1 − e − t /τ ) (6)

The time constant in the above relation is the time taken by the thermowell system to reach
63.2% of the response range.
In order to validate how closely the system adheres to the second order response, one may
make use of the iterative methodology discussed in the calculations section

Calculations:

1st order system:

Tthe = Tini − A(1 − exp(−t / τ )) (7)

Where, A is the step change. In this case, we expose to the system to the surrounding and
hence, =
A Tini − Troom

Time constant is the time required for reaching 63.2 % of the total response change.

2nd order system:

We assume that the thermometer time constant, τ1=111 s (from the thermometer experiment)

We know that for the 2nd order system, the response to a step change is given by:

(τ 1 exp(−t / τ 1 ) − τ 2 exp(−t / τ 2 ))
Tthe =Tini − (Tini − Troom )(1 − ) (8)
τ1 − τ 2

From the above expression, it is required to estimate τ2 by substituting the value of τ1 such

that the sum of squares of error between the theoretical and experimental values is
minimized. Thus, the following optimization problem can be formulated,
n

Min=
τ2
e2 ∑ (T
i =1
the − Texp t ) 2 (9)

Subject to the following constraints,

τ 1 = 111,τ 1 ≥ 50,τ 2 ≥ 500

Where,n is the number of the observations.

Tthe can be obtained from Equation (8)

One can assume the initial guess value of τ2 to be 1000s.

One may use the solver option in excel or fmincon in MATLAB.

Observations:

• Room Temperature= Troom=310C

• Initial Temperature=Tini=900C
• Time Constant of a thermometer= τ1=111 s.
• Step Change=A=90-31=Tini-Troom=590C

Observation and Calculation Table:

Time (s) TExpt (0C) Tthe(0C), 1st order Tthe(0C), 2ndorder

Plots:
Plot the experimental dynamic response together with the 1st (equation (7)) and 2nd order
(equation (8)) system responses in order to observe the deviation/concurrence etc.

Results:

Time constant of the thermowell, τ2=________s

Expectations/conclusions:

It is expected to plot the experimental and theoretical response on the same plot and comment
on the nature of the graphs obtained. If there exists a considerable difference between the
two, one must explain why the models fail. One can comment how close the calculated time
constant of the thermowell falls closer to the overall system time constant. Moreover, one
must observe which of the two order (1st and 2nd) responses are concurrent to the
experimental observations especially as the system reaches the final steady state.

Questions to ponder about:

1. Write down the possible reasons of deviation between the experimental values
and the theoretical values
2. Can you imagine the possible scenarios in chemical engineering industry
where thermowell system can be useful?
3. What are the possible disadvantages of the thermowell system?
4. What are the possible advantages and disadvantages of incorporating the 2nd
order model equations in our analysis?