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Temperature Sensors based on Thermoelectric Effect

Lars Rebenklau*1, Paul Gierth1, Angelika Paproth1, Klaus Irrgang2, Lutz Lippmann2, Axel Wodtke3,
Lars Niedermeyer3, Klaus Augsburg3, Franz Bechtold4
1

Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems, Dresden, Germany

Temperaturmetechnik Geraberg GmbH, Martinroda, Germany
3
Technische Universitt Ilmenau Fachgebiet Kraftfahrzeugtechnik, Ilmenau, Germany
4
VIA electronic GmbH, Hermsdorf, Germany
2

* Corresponding Author: lars.rebenklau@ikts.fraunhofer.de, +49 351 2553 7986

Abstract
In many industrial applications temperatures must be measured which is realized with temperature sensors. Typical
temperature sensors are based on thermocouples or resistance elements. However, these sensors are not always
suitable for each application such as temperature sensors of liquids or gases in pipelines. Standard sensors inside such
a material flow have an influence on the flow itself or hinder a cleaning of the pipeline system. Novel thermoelectric
temperature sensors, which could reduce the previously demonstrated problems, have been developed as part of a
research project. The basic idea of the novel sensor concept is to use thick film technology to enable novel sensor
geometries. The typical application of thick film technology is the realization of ceramic circuit boards. Metal based
thick film pastes were screen printed and fired as conductive material. The sensor concept uses a combination of
different commercially available metal-based pastes (platinum, silver, nickel, gold) to creates thermocouples based on
the Seebeck effect.

Introduction

The thermoelectric effect is also used as

measuring principle in a variety of temperature
measurements [1]. Other applications to use
thermoelectric effect are discussed in the literature [2],
[3], [4]. It is based on the Seebeck effect, which described
an electrical voltage in a circuit of two different electrical
conductors (A and B, with material specific Seebeck
coefficient SA and SB) and a temperature difference
between two contact points T1 and T2, according (1):

The aim of the project is the development of

thermoelectric measurement elements, which are
processed on ceramic substrates. The thick-film
technology was focused for the development of these
elements. The Project focused on the following
procedure. See in Fig.2.

(1)

The Seebeck coefficients have the dimension of an

electrical voltage per temperature difference (V/K). The
typical dimensions for bulk metals at room temperature
are at 10 V/K. The measuring principle can be seen in
Fig. 1.
The used measuring setup within this project is shown in
Fig. 1.

Figure 2: Project procedure

Figure 1: Principle measuring setup

thermoelectrically voltage within this project

ISBN 978-0-9568086-2-2

of

the

Within the work, a research of available thick film pastes

was performed. A major aim of this project was the
exclusive use of commercial available thick film pastes

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September 2015, Friedrichshafen, Germany

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to demonstrate the production possibility with modern

available materials.
Various commercial suppliers were interviewed for this.
The selection criterions were the compatibility of the
pastes with the thick film process and the usage of pastes
with a high thermal voltage. This means that a defined
temperature rise generates a high measuring signal. As
constants for the Seebeck effect, the pure metals (bulk
materials) were adopted. The results are summarized in
Tab. 1.
Table 1: Typical thermoelectric materials [5]
Material
Bismuth
Constantan
Nickel
Palladium
Platinum
Aluminum
Tin
PlatinumZinc
Silver
Copper
Gold
Tungsten

Thermal
Voltage Uth
(V / 100 K)
-65-77
-34-30
-19-12
-2,8
0
4
4,5
6,5
7
6,77,9
7,27,7
5,68
6,59

Available as
Thick Film
Paste

X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X

(a) Screen printing front-side

Experimental

For the preparation of the necessary measuring

cells, a test layout according the measurement principles
in Fig. 1 was created. The used screen printing layouts
consisting of 5 different layers on the substrate front and
backside and can be seen in Fig. 3.
Thermoelectrical couples were printed on the substrate
frontside (Fig. 3a) and reference platinum temperature
resistances on the substrate backside (Fig. 3b). The
reference resistances were used during the analysis to
control the temperature comparison on the substrate.
In order to exploit the advantages of thick film
technology 8 measuring cells were processed in parallel
on every substrate. The last process step was the
separation of the individual measuring cells via scribing.

ISBN 978-0-9568086-2-2

(b) Screen printing layout back-side

Figure 3: Sample screen printing and screen printing
layouts of the measuring samples
The thermocouple materials were screen printed
separately with different thick film materials. The
material overlap can be seen in Fig. 4 and was positioned
at the temperature measuring point T1 (Fig.1).

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(a) Screen printing thermocouple at T1

Figure 4: Principle measuring setup
thermoelectrically voltage within this project

of

the

The second temperature measuring point T2 (Fig. 1) was

positioned at the contact pads, where a second material
overlap was realised.
The examination of the measuring cells occurred in
temperature-controlled calibrators. For this reason, the
measuring cells are designed as strip element. The single
measurement cells have lateral dimensions of (10 x 100)
mm.

Table 2: Realized thick film thermocouple material

combinations

Nr

Material
A

Material
B

1
2
3

Pt
Ag
Pt

Ag
Ni
Au

Expected
operating
Temperature
T (C)
500 600
< 500
< 850

Results

Examples of screen printed and

characterisation samples can be seen in Fig 5.

fired

(c) Platinum reference resistances on the substrate

backside at T1 and T2
Figure 5: Realized test samples consisting of different
commercially available thick films on alumina substrate
The characterization of the measuring cells was done for
all material combinations up to 500 K in temperature
calibrators. The low firing temperature of the Ni thick
film pastes reduced the temperature limits of this paste
on 500 K. The variants Ag-Pt and Au-Pt were also tested
op to 850 K. The results of the corresponding
measurement curves up to 500 K is shown in Fig. 6.
12

thermoelectric voltage in mV

The preparation of the measuring cells are the usual thick

film process on alumina ceramics. The order of the
production was directed here by the firing temperatures
of the individual thick film pastes. The paste with the
highest temperature was processed first. At the present
time measuring cells are realized in the several
combinations (Tab. 2).

(b) Screen printing contacts at T2

Au-Pt
Ag-Pt
Ag-Ni

10
8
6
4
2
0
0

100

200

300

400

temperature difference in K

500

Figure 6: Results of the thermoelectric voltage

characterization for up to 500 K temperature difference

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Ag-Ni based thermocouples show a linear measurement

signal up to 500 K with a relatively high thermoelectric
voltage. The combinations based on Pt-Ag and Pt-Au
show lower voltage values and a slightly parabolic value
increase. The measured values were interpolated linearly
and compared to literature values of bulk materials.
Table 3: Comparison of thick film thermoelectric voltage
and bulk material thermoelectric voltage

Ag-Ni
Ag-Pt
Au-Pt

Any thick film combination showing higher values

compared to bulk materials. A possible explanation
seems to be the microstructure difference between bulk
materials a porous thick film which also consists of
additional materials like glass phases.
Based on this promising results the test samples have
been characterized under realistic conditions for
temperature measurement of exhaust gas flows inside the
exhaust gas system of engine test rig of the Technical
University Ilmenau. The results of this characterization
for different sensor positions of an Au-Pt thick film
thermocouple inside the gas flow are compared to a
standard sheathed thermocouple and summarized in Fig.
7.

temperature T in C

550

Figure 8: Sample of Silver wire welding on Al2O3substrat

The focus of the studies was on the shear strength of the
welded contacts, and influence of geometrical conditions
like the thickness of metallization and the wire diameters.
The studies showed that Parallel Gap Welding joints
required a minimum thickness of the pad metallization of
approximately 1/3 of the wire diameter. Fig. 9
demonstrates the metallization thickness influence on for
Pt-wire on Pt-pads. Studies on aging effects especially at
high operation temperatures are currently carried out.

thick film thermocouple at position 1

thick film thermocouple at position 2
reference sheated thermocouple



500
450
400
350
300

Ag-Wire, 300m, Ag-Pd-Pads

on Al2O3-substrat

6KHDUVWUHQJWKLQ1

600

The Parallel Gap Welding on AgPd- or Pt-pads on Al2O3

substrates were under specially investigation. Wires of
Silver, Pt and Silver plated Copper were tested with
diameters range from 100 m for Pt to 300 m for Silver
plated Copper.

Thick Film
Uth (mV/ 100 K)
2.47
1.16
1.43

Literature
Uth (mV/ 100 K)
1.2 1.94
0.67 0.79
0.56 0.8

Material

temperature and welding under normal atmosphere for

high operation temperatures.

time t in min








:LUHLQP
3DGLQP











Figure 7: Results of the thermoelectric voltage

characterization under realistic conditions

Figure 9: Influence of pad thickness on mechanical

stability of Pt-wire Parallel Gap Welding on Pt-thick film

The results demonstrate a fast reaction time of the sensor

principle and comparable results to standard industrial
measurement equipment.

The thick film material and the wire interconnection of

the sensors must be protected against higher application
temperatures. This has been done with inorganic coating
compounds, which are more and more offered for electric
applications. Many inorganic coating compounds were
tested. Tab. 4 summarized the material parameters
according their datasheets.

The sensor is connected via wire attachment. Wire

attachment carried out in two variants - soldering or
parallel gap welding (Fig. 8). Soldering qas used as
interconnection method for reduced operation

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Table 4: Significant material parameters of coating

compounds according their datasheets

Nr

Base

VG1
VG2
VG3
VG4
VG5
VG6
VG7
VG8

Al2O3
Sodium
silicate
Magnesium
oxide
Quartz
Quartz
Zirconium
silicate
Al2O3
Al2O3

Thermal
expansion
CTE
(10-6/K)
13,5
18,7

Maximum
operating
temperature
Tmax (C)
980
1204

7,5

1650

The results show that the maximum break down voltage

and the maximum temperature of this materials must be
complied with in the particular application.

9,4
7,0
n.n.

1500
1100
1427

7,6
7,5

1650
1400

Depending on the application, these coating

compounds are for metallic or ceramic surfaces but they
are underexplored in terms of long-term behavior.
The insulation resistance of the inorganic coating
compounds was investigated in a temperature range
between room temperature and 800 C. Fig. 10 shows the
used test setup for this characterisation.
Substrate

The coating compounds VG1 and VG2 have been chosen

according their thermal expansion coefficient and
isolation resistance. Their long time stability against high
temperature storing at 800 C and temperature cycling
between room temperature and 500 C has been
investigated. No optical degradation or spalling could be
observed during this characterization.

Current
Measurement

Coating
Compound

Figure 10: Test setup

measurement

pA to
mA

Voltage
Measurement
max. 1000 V

Thick film thermocouples could be successfully

demonstrated as thermoelectric sensor for higher
operating temperatures. For this purpose, commercial
thick film materials were selected and processed via
screen printing on Al2O3 ceramics. An electrical
characterization was carried out at temperatures up to
500 C. Long-term studies are currently under
evaluation. It was found that the Seebeck coefficients
differ between thick film and bulk material. As a cause of
this, the microstructure of the thick film pastes is
suspected. This effect will be investigated in detail in
further experiments. A method of high temperature stable
wire attachment the Parallel Gap Welding was
investigated. For protection of sensor inorganic coating
compounds were tested. The important parameter was the
insulation resistance.

Acknowledgment
This project was funded by the Federal Ministry
of Economics and Technology under the grant number
KF2087338DF3 Thermoelektrische Module fr
automotive und industrielle Anwendungen by the AIF
GmbH.

of insulation resistance

All coating compounds show a similar resistance

decrease with increasing temperature (Fig. 11).

Literature
[1]
[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

Figure 11: Insulation resistance of coating compounds

VG1 VG8 between room temperature and 800 C

ISBN 978-0-9568086-2-2

Summary

Schaumburg,
Sensoren
Teubner-Verlag
ISBN 3-519-06125-2, pp 25, 1992.
Lon E. Bell, Cooling, Heating, Generating Power,
and Recovering Waste Heat with Thermoelectric
Systems, Science 321, 1457, 2008.
Jrgen Moors, Georg Degen, Thermoelectrics
bridging the distance between material, module and
generator, IAV Tagung: Thermoelectrics goes
automotive, 2010.
Basel I. Ismail, Wael H. Ahmed, Thermoelectric
Power Generation Using Waste-Heat Energy as an
Alternative Green Technology, Recent Patents on
Electrical Engineering, 2, pp. 27-39, 2009.
Karl Nietzsche, et al., Funktionswerkstoffe der
Elektrotechnik und Elektronik, Deutscher Verlag
fr
Grundstoffenergie
Leipzig-Stuttgart,
ISBN 3-342-00524, pp 423, 1993.

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