Millisecond Response Times Using
Easily Attachable Flexible Junctions - B1 Series Reference Bookmark this page!

Many research and industrial applications require the use of an economical Thermocouple with fast response characteristics. This can be done with round wire Thermocouples made out of very small diameter wires. However, small diameter wires cause many difficulties, among which are fragile junctions, high lead resistance, difficult attachments, poor thermal contacts etc.

Flattening the round wires in the vicinity of the thermal junction into thin ribbons eliminates these problems and also yields several additional advantages such as: the thermal junction is more reliable in that several weld joints are now possible, the lead resistance is low since larger wires can be used, fragility is also reduced because of the larger leads, the ribbons are very flexible and will bend to mate with irregular surfaces, attachment problems are simpler since the ribbons can be easily spot welded, brazed, soldered, glued, potted or clamped to the test wall, excellent thermal contact is made with the test wall and response times of 20 milliseconds in hot water immersion tests or 50 milliseconds in moving air tests can be obtained with the Ribbon Thermocouples.

NANMAC offers these Ribbon Thermocouples in two basic styles, i.e., one style has fiberglass insulation on the lead wires and it is usable to about 700° F maximum operating temperatures. The other style has ceramic insulation on the lead wires and a stainless steel sheath. Both styles are available in a wide range of wire sizes and types of elements.

Intrinsic Thermocouple

In certain applications it is desired to weld the ribbon elements individually to a metallic test item. Because of the Law of Intermediate Metals as applied to Thermocouples, this can be done without introducing any errors in the system. This arrangement is commonly referred to as the "Intrinsic Thermocouple."

NANMAC offers Intrinsic Thermocouples with the same specifications as our Flexible Ribbon Thermocouples. The length of the ribbon elements in the NANMAC Intrinsic Thermocouple is about 1/2 inch. This length can be reduced if necessary at the time of installation. When ordering Intrinsic Thermocouples simply add the suffix (IT) to the Catalog Number of our Flexible Ribbon Thermocouples.

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