Temperature Grid Sensor for the Measurement of Spatial Temperature Distributions at Object Surfaces

This paper presents results of the development and application of a new temperature grid sensor based on the wire-mesh sensor principle. The grid sensor consists of a matrix of 256 Pt1000 platinum chip resistors and an associated electronics that measures the grid resistances with a multiplexing scheme at high speed. The individual sensor elements can be spatially distributed on an object surface and measure transient temperature distributions in real time. The advantage compared with other temperature field measurement approaches such as infrared cameras is that the object under investigation can be thermally insulated and the radiation properties of the surface do not affect the measurement accuracy. The sensor principle is therefore suited for various industrial monitoring applications. Its applicability for surface temperature monitoring has been demonstrated through heating and mixing experiments in a vessel.