Oleksandra HOTRA1, Oksana BOYKO2

Lublin University of Technology (1), Lviv National Medical University (2)

Compensation bridge circuit with temperature-dependent

voltage divider
Abstract. The bridge circuit with temperature-dependent voltage divider for compensation of cold-junction temperature of thermocouple is described.
The proposed circuit allows reducing the influence of cold-junction to less than 0,1С for thermocouples of the K-type (chromel - alumel) and L-type
(chromel - copel).

Streszczenie. W artykule opisano mostkowy układ kompensacji wolnych końców termopary zawierający zależny od temperatury dzielnik napięcia.
Opracowany układ pozwala zmniejszyć wpływ zmian temperatury wolnych końców na wynik pomiaru poniżej 0,1С dla termopar typu K (chromel-
alumel) i typu L (chromel-kopel). (Mostkowy układ kompensacji wolnych końców termopary zawierający zależny od temperatury dzielnik
napięcia)

Keywords:. thermocouple, temperature-dependent voltage divider, cold-junction compensation

Słowa kluczowe: termopara, dzielnik napięcia zależny od temperatury, kompensacja wolnych końców termopary

Introduction
The temperature is widely measured in modern industry,
scientific experiments, materials testing etc. – practically all
fields of human activity are connected with temperature
measuring and control. Thus the temperature is the most
often measured physical quantity. The increase in accuracy
of the temperature measurement drives the production
quality improvement.
For low and medium range temperature measurements,
various types of temperature transducers such as
thermoresistorsor, thermocouples etc. are employed. If
thermocouples are employed, it is necessary to take into
account the influence of cold-junction temperature of the Fig.1. The compensation bridge circuit with temperature-dependent
output voltage divider
thermocouple on the measurement accuracy [1]. For
compensation of the influence of cold-junction temperature, If a voltage source is applied, the output voltage of the
the thermostatting devices or compensation circuits are resistor-based compensating bridge circuit with additive
used [2, 3]. Analogue compensation circuits produce the voltage divider is calculated as:
voltage which is equal to the thermo-emf of thermoelectric
transducers at the temperature of cold-junction but of  Rt1 R3  Rt 2
(1) U outU  U f     ,
opposite sign [4]. The advantage of the analogue  R1  Rt1 R2  R3  Rout U  R4  Rt 2
compensation circuits is the possibility of the usage of
different types of secondary measuring devices.
In order to obtain the compensation voltage, the R1 Rt1 R R
where Rout U   2 3 is the output resistance
temperature-dependent bridge circuits are applied. The R1  Rt1 R2  R3
temperature-dependent resistors are inserted either in one of the resistor-based bridge circuit fed from voltage source.
or in two arms of the bridge [5, 6]. In this case, mainly
platinum and copper thermoresistor transducers (RTD) are If a standard current source I0 is applied, the output
used. An increase of the accuracy of producing the voltage is described as:
compensation voltage implies a better overall accuracy of
 Rt1 R3  Rt 2
temperature measurements. (2) U outI  I 0 Rm     ,
 R1  Rt1 R2  R3  Rout I  R4  Rt 2
The process of design of cold-junction compensation
circuit
The improvement in effectiveness of the resistor-based where Rm 
R1  Rt1 R2  R3  is the input resistance of
compensating bridge circuits over wide cold-junction R1  R2  R3  Rt 1
temperature range is reached by means of including
additional temperature-dependent voltage dividers [7]. bridge circuit, and Rout I 
R3  Rt1 R2  R1  is the
The schematic of the resistor-based compensation R1  R2  R3  Rt1
bridge circuit with additional, temperature-dependent output output resistance of bridge circuit fed from current source.
voltage divider on the resistors R4, Rt2 is presented in Fig.1.
It is necessary to maintain the same temperature of The analysis of the formulae (1) and (2) for the output
thermoresistors Rt1, Rt2 and the cold-junction of the voltage of the resistor-based bridge circuit has shown that
thermocouple. For this purpose, passive thermostats with the usage of the temperature-dependent output voltage
heat-conducting temperature equalizers can be applied. divider implies additional nonlinear terms in the output
The compensation circuit can be fed from voltage voltage formula, which increase the accuracy of the
source Uf or current stabilizer I0. dependence reproducibility of the thermo-emf on the cold-
junction temperature.

PRZEGLĄD ELEKTROTECHNICZNY (Electrical Review), ISSN 0033-2097, R. 88 NR 4a/2012 169

 The absolute error of the formula, describing the the bridge circuit fed from the voltage source, and using Rt
compensating voltage, expressed as equivalent of RTD Pt100 type, is plotted in Fig.2 (at R3=100 Оhm,
temperature change can be written as: R1=R2=200 Оhm, R4 = 94 Оhm, Uf = 146,2 mV for the K-
type (chromel-alumel) thermocouple (Fig.2,a), and at
( U out  E ) ( U out  E )( t max  t min ) R3=100 Оhm, R1 = R2 = 350 Оhm, R4 = 100 Оhm,
(3) t   ,
E m E max  E min Uf = 327,45 mV for the L-type (chromel-copel)
thermocouple (Fig.2,b)).
where Emax, Emin, tmax, tmin are either initial or final values of In Fig.3,a the absolute error of compensation versus
the thermo-emfs and the temperatures, respectively; E is the cold-junction temperature of the bridge circuit fed from
the value of the thermo-emf of a thermocouple at the cold- the current source is shown for the K-type (chromel-alumel)
junction temperature; Em is the mean value of the change thermocouple (at R3=100 Оhm, R1 = R2 = 60 Оhm,
of the thermocouple thermo-emf at the 1С temperature R4 = 70 Оhm, I0 = 1,2985 mA). Analogically, in Fig.3,b, for
change over the temperature range tmax…tmin. the L-type (chromel-copel) thermocouple (at R3=100 Оhm,
R1 = R2 = 150 Оhm, R4 = 80 Оhm, I0 = 1,5867 mA) the error
The investigation of the compensation circuit efficiency plot is shown.
The K-type (chromel-alumel) and L-type (chromel-copel)
thermocouples were investigated using platinum and
copper thermoresistor transducers.
The relationship between temperature and resistance
for Cu RTD is linear and can be expressed as:
(4) R = R0 (1 + 0,00428t) ,
where R0 is the value of the resistance of the resistor at
0C.
The relationship between temperature and resistance
for Pt RTD in the range from -10 to 60С can be described
as:
R = R0 (1 + 3,9702 10 -3 t + 5,8893 10 -7 t ) .
2
(5)

a)

a)
b)

Fig.3. The relationship between the absolute compensation error

and the cold-junction temperature of the bridge circuit fed from
current sources for Pt RTD and the thermocouples: a) K-type, b) L-
type

The absolute error of the compensation of influence of

the cold-junction temperature versus the temperature, for
the bridge circuit fed from the voltage source, and using Rt
of RTD Cu100 type, is plotted in Fig.4 (at R3=100 Оhm,
R1=R2=200 Оhm, R4 = 60 Оhm, Uf = 121,5 mV for the K-
type thermocouple (Fig.4,a), and at R3=100 Оhm,
R1 = R2 = 350 Оhm, R4 = 60 Оhm, Uf = 269,5 mV for the L-
type thermocouple (Fig.4,b).
b) The absolute error of compensation versus the cold-
junction temperature of the bridge circuit fed from the
Fig.2. The relationship between the absolute compensation error current source is shown in Fig.5 (at R3=100 Оhm,
and the cold-junction temperature of the bridge circuit fed from
R1 = R2 = 60 Оhm, R4 = 50 Оhm, I0 = 1,104 mA for the K-
voltage sources for Pt RTD and the thermocouples: a) K-type, b) L-
type type thermocouple (Fig.5,a), at R3=100 Оhm,
R1 = R2 = 150 Оhm, R4 = 50 Оhm, I0 = 1,323 mA for the L-
The absolute error of the compensation of the influence type thermocouple (Fig.5,b).
of the cold-junction temperature versus the temperature, for

170 PRZEGLĄD ELEKTROTECHNICZNY (Electrical Review), ISSN 0033-2097, R. 88 NR 4a/2012

 The analysis of the relationships between the absolute
error and the temperature has shown that the discussed
circuit provides the reproducibility of thermo-emf of cold-
junction compensation with error less than 0,05С for
thermocouples of K-type and of L-type fed from the voltage
source. If a current source is applied, then the
aforementioned error is the same (0,05С) for the K-type
thermocouples, and less than 0,1С for the L-type
thermocouples. Maximum errors of reproduction for the
thermo-emf of cold-junction temperature within the
investigated temperature range for platinum and copper
thermoresistor transducers are equal. This can be
explained by the fact that the relationship between
a) temperature and resistance for Pt RTD is approximately
linear over a small temperature range. Therefore, in
constructing of the compensation circuits it is better to apply
copper thermoresistor transducers, that are less expensive
than platinum ones as well as high corrosion-proof, and
provide required metrological characteristics within the
temperature range -10…60 С.

Conclusions
The application of temperature-dependent bridge
circuits supplied with additional voltage divider allows
extending the acceptable change of the cold-junction
temperature of thermoelectric transducers and increase in
accuracy of temperature measurement. In this case, copper
thermoresistor transducers are preferred for use.
b) Experimental investigations confirmed the results of
theoretical analysis of the designed compensation circuit.
Fig.4. The relationship between the absolute compensation error
and the cold-junction temperature of the bridge circuit fed from REFERENCES
voltage sources for Cu RTD and the thermocouples: a) K-type, b) [1] Utpal Sarma, P.K. Boruah, Design and development of a high
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Society of America, 1999
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thermocouples, U.S. Patent 4441071, 1984
[5] Hotra O., Cold-junction temperature compensation of
thermoelectric transducers, Przegląd Electrotechniczny, 10
(2010), 24-26
[6] Hotra O., Boyko O., Tranzystorowo-rezystancyjny układ
kompensacji wpływu temperatury wolnych końców termopary,
Prace Instytutu Elektrotechniki, 249 (2011), 21-27
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a)

Authors: prof. Oleksandra Hotra, Lublin University of Technology,

Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Chair of
Electronics, 38A Nadbystrzycka Str., 20-618 Lublin, Poland,
tel. +(48-81) 538 43 11, E-mail: o.hotra@pollub.pl; Ph.D Oksana
Boyko, Lviv National Medical University, Chair of medical
Informatics, Pekarska 69, 20-010 Lviv, Ukraine, tel. +(380 - 32) 276
78 08, E-mail: oxana_bojko@ukr.net

b)

Fig.5. The relationship between the absolute compensation error

and the cold-junction temperature of the bridge circuit fed from
current sources for Cu RTD and the thermocouples: a) K-type, b) L-
type

PRZEGLĄD ELEKTROTECHNICZNY (Electrical Review), ISSN 0033-2097, R. 88 NR 4a/2012 171