Thermistors
What is a thermistor?
A thermistor is a temperature sensor made by using element composed of sintered semiconductor material which exhibits a large change in resistance proportional to a small change in temperature. Thermistors usually have negative temperature coefficients which means the resistance of the thermistor decreases as the temperature increases. Thermistor are accurate temperature sensors and range of measurement from - 80°C to 250°C. But the significant range of a thermistor is fairly limited compared to RTDs and thermocouples.
Thermistor has very predictable characteristics and excellent stability and because of this it is most likely to be used for many applications including temperature measurement and control. The greatest significant characteristic of a thermistor is, its enormously high temperature coefficient of resistance. Thermistors are "self-heated" for use in marine application such as liquid thermal conductivity measurement, level detection, & air flow detection.
Benefits of Using a Thermistor
Accurate Results
Thermistor is most accurate temperature sensor as compare with other type of sensors. OMEGA thermistors have an accuracy of ±0.1°C or ±0.2°C depending on the particular thermistor model. However thermistors are fairly limited in their temperature range, working only over a nominal range of 0°C to 100°C.
Thermistor Stability
Finished thermistors are chemically stable and not significantly affected by aging.
Choose the right thermistor for your application
Thermistor Elements
The thermistor element is the simplest form of thermistor and are compact in size. Because of compact size it is used in the application where space is limited. OMEGA offers a wide variety of thermistor elements which vary not only in form factor but also in their resistance versus temperature characteristics. Since thermistors are non-linear, the instrument used to read the temperature must linearize the reading.
Thermistor Probes
The standalone thermistor element is relatively fragile and cannot be placed in a rugged environment. OMEGA offers thermistor probes which are thermistor elements embedded in metal tubes. Thermistor probes are much more suitable for industrial environments than thermistor elements.
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