CHE184-1P Process Dynamics and Control

2nd Quarter AY 2016-2017

Determination of Time Constant () for Mercury and Alcohol

in Glass Thermometer
Ricky Jay C. Gomez1
1
Student, CHE 184-1P/C21, Mapa Institute of Technology, School of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry

ABSTRACT

Such thermodynamic instrument as thermometer follows a first-order differential equation. Transfer function is an
important tool in correlating the forcing or input function to the system and the response or the output function. The
transient response of the first-order systems is characterized by a parameter called time constant or response time.
This time constant describes how the system lags in attaining the steady-state condition of the variable being measured
when disturbance enters it. Time constant is also a function of the properties of the system, mass, specific heat, heat
transfer coefficient and surface area of the bulb in particular to the thermometer. Changing systems affect the
computed value for the time constant. The trend of the result of the experiment shows that as the value for the time
constant increases, the system behaves more lag. Pondering the experiment, the mercury in glass thermometer has
lower value of time constant throughout the different variations of the experimental method, that is why is shows that
less lag is being experienced by it. Almost similar trend of the data is given by both forcing functions, favoring that
mercury in glass thermometer has less lag compared to the alcohol in glass thermometer.

Keywords: time constant, lag, forcing function, response function, transfer function.

INTRODUCTION mercury in glass thermometer is through convection

For such a measuring instrument which is dependent
on the properties and nature of the system being used,
response time is an important parameter to consider.
Response time portrays the duration by which the
system (e.g. fluid) reacts to the disturbance being
[3]
applied to it (e.g. temperature changes)
example of a thermodynamic instrument commonly
used for which the response time is an important
parameter to consider is the mercury in glass
thermometer. Note that the heat transfer occurring in
and Newtons law of cooling applies [3]:
= ( ) (1)
where h is the convective coefficient, A is the area of
the heat transfer, Tf is the final temperature and T is
the initial temperature. Simultaneous to this, by
. One good applying the concept of the amount of heat transferred
in the system due to the temperature change, equation
(1) will be modified, giving a more elaborated
equation for the heat transfer in mercury in glass
thermometer:
 ( ) = (2)
where m is mass and C is the specific heat of the
system. In the transient response of mercury in glass
thermometer, a parameter which characterize the
response time of the system to the disturbance is given
by the time constant, :
where (t) is the unit-impulse function. The graphical
representations of the step function and pulse (impulse)
function are shown in Figure 1 and 2 wherein their
behavior are being depicted when such disturbance
enters the system.

(3)
=

which is the ratio of the mass and specific heat to the
fil coefficient and the heat transfer area which is
actually the surface are of the bulb of the thermometer.
Figure 1. Depiction of a step input [3].
Knowing for a fact that mercury in glass thermometer
has the behavior that follows a first-order differential
[1]
equation . In this system, the cause and the effect
when disturbance enters is being characterized by a
particular function. Transfer function is used to
correlate the forcing function (the cause or input
variable) and the response function (the effect or the
output variable) [2]
. In this experiment, two forcing Figure 2. Depiction of a pulse (impulse) input [3].

functions have been considered: the step function and

the pulse function. Both of these forcing functions are
first-order systems. The function that describe the step
function is shown in equation (4):
(4)
() =
where A is the magnitude of the step and s is the
Laplace variable. Taking the inverse Laplace
transform of equation (4) gives the input variable as a
function of time:
() = () (5)
where u(t) is the unit-step function. For the pulse
(impulse) function, the equation that describe it as a
function of time is given as:
For this experiment, the time constant of a mercury
and alcohol in glass thermometers should be
determined using step and pulse (impulse) input
functions to the system.
METHODOLOGY
A. Materials and Procedures
The materials and equipment used in this experiment
were beakers, mercury thermometer, alcohol
thermometer, hot plate and magnetic stirrer. The
chemical used in the experiment was water.
In this experiment, three different parts were done to
determine the changes in time constant when some

() = () (6) experimental methods are being varied. In the first part

of the experiment, the step function behavior of the
mercury and alcohol in glass thermometer have been
tested with hot disturbance and without stirring
mechanism applied. The beaker was filled with water
and preheated to achieve an arbitrary stabilized
temperature. The stabilized temperature was then
recorded. Ambient temperature was also recorded.
The response of each thermometer was determined for
(7)
() = ( )
where Tf is the final temperature being achieved at
steady-state, To is the ambient temperature and Y(t) is
the response temperature at a given time.
Linearizing equation the equation (7) by taking its
natural logarithm and separation of variable giving the

every two second after being immersed in the equation for the evaluation of time constant, :
preheated water bath for 1 minute. For each of the (8)
=
thermometer, three trials were done to account for the ()
ln( )
variations in the result.
For the pulse input, the response function governing
In the second part, same conditions were applied to the
this forcing function is given as:
system except that this includes stirring mechanism to

(9)
actually improve the film coefficient so that heat () =
transfer will be enhanced in the bulb of the
thermometer. Same procedures were done for this part.
Aside from this, the graphical representation of the
In the last part of the experiment, pulse function thermometer reading versus time was plotted to depict
behavior of the mercury and alcohol in glass the trend of the step function and so as to determine
thermometer have been tested now with cold water as the effect of the time constant values to the plot.
disturbance to the system and without stirring
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
mechanism. The stabilized temperature of the cold
water bath was recorded as well as the ambient The average time constant evaluated for the mercury
temperature. The response of thermometers was and alcohol in glass thermometers were summarized
determined in first after being immersed in the cold in Table 1 for the step function with and without
water bath for 1 minute with 5 seconds increment and stirring mechanism.
after being taken out of the cold water bath with the
same duration and increment. Three trials were also Table 1. Time constant for step function with and
without stirring.
done for each of the thermometers being observed.
, seconds , seconds
System
(w/o stirring) (w/ stirring)
B. Treatment of Results Hg
(To = 32oC, Tf 7.2285 4.4938
For this experiment, the data gathered were = 72 oC)
temperature reading in each thermometer and the time Alcohol
(To = 32oC, Tf 10.0650 7.7592
corresponding to the readings. For each thermometer, = 70 oC)
the average temperatures were computed from the
From the data gathered, mercury in glass thermometer
three runs of the procedure. The equation used for the
has a lower time constant compared to the alcohol in
determination of the time constant was the response
glass thermometer. By considering the trend of the
function of the thermometer given as:
data through the graphical representation, the effect of needed for it to equilibrate with the hot water bath.
the values computed for the time constant could be Prior to this, the computed time constant for the
explained thoroughly. alcohol in glass thermometer was higher in magnitude
compared to the mercury in glass thermometer. This
shows that the value of the time constant for the
Step Function (Hg w/o
thermometers corresponds to the length of lag of the
stirring) response of the system. This gives a relationship that
80 as the time constant increases, more lag is being
70
Temperature, o C

60 experienced by the system. Similar to this for the

50 system with stirring mechanism, which shows the
40
30 same trend of data. The only difference is that through
20 stirring mechanism, the time constants have been
10
decreased.
0
0 20 40 60 80
time, s
Step Function (Hg w/
stirring)
Figure 3. Graphical representation of the mercury in
glass thermometer response to the step function input. 80
70
Tenperature, o C

60
Step Function (Alcohol w/o 50
40
stirring) 30
80 20
70 10
0
Temperature, o C

60
0 20 40 60 80
50
time, s
40
30
20
10 Figure 5. Graphical representation of the mercury in
glass thermometer response to the step function input.
0
0 20 40 60 80
time, s

Figure 4. Graphical representation of the alcohol in

glass thermometer response to the step function input.

From the graph, the response of the alcohol in glass

thermometer took more time to attain the steady-state
temperature. This means that more lag has been
accounted for its response since longer duration is
 The graphical representations that justify this
Step Function (Alcohol w/ observation are shown as:
stirring)
80 0
Temperature, o C

0 50 100 150 200

60
-5
40
20 -10
0

Y(t)
0 20 40 60 80 -15
time, s
-20

Figure 6. Graphical representation of the alcohol in -25

glass thermometer response to the step function input.

The physical meaning of this is that, through stirring -30

Time, s
and turbulence, the film coefficient is being increased
Mercury Alcohol
that is why the heat transfer in the system is being
enhanced so that less lag will be experienced by it. Figure 7. Graphical representation for the response of
the thermometers to the pulse input.
Aside from the stirring mechanism, other factors that
affect the values of the time constants are the
properties of the mercury and alcohol.
CONCLUSION
For the pulse input, the computed time constant for
each thermometer subjected to cold water bath are Response time is an important parameter to be

summarized in Table 2. considered in analyzing the instruments such as

Table 2. Response for pulse input.
Y(t)
System
up
Hg
9.8198
Alcohol
9.0531
For this forcing function, the mercury in glass
thermometer has less lag due to higher value of the
response compared to the alcohol in glass thermometer
after being subjected to the cold water bath. On the
other hand, when the thermometers are being taken out
of the cold water bath, alcohol in glass thermometer
shows less lag compared to the mercury in glass
thermometer since it has higher value for the response.
thermometer. Through the determination of the time
constant, the response of the system to different
Y(t)
forcing functions can be evaluated. The essence of
down
time constant shows how the systems response lags in
44.0298
attaining an indicated parameter (e.g. temperature) at
48.1474
steady-state. As the time constant increases, more lag
will be shown by the systems response. Through this
experiment, one way to decrease the time constant is
to increase the heat transfer coefficient though
agitating or mixing the surrounding of the system so
that film resistance will be decreased, leading to a
more efficient heat transfer in the bulb of the
thermometer. Also, using different system affects the
time constant evaluated since different systems has
different properties and time constant is a function of
the systems properties.

REFERENCES

[1] BME, Department of Hydrodynamics

Systems. (n.d.). Thermometer's response to
step function. Measurement technique of
process, 1-4.

[2] Coughanour, D. R. (1991). Process Systems

Analysis and Control. McGraw-Hill, Inc.

[3] Thomsen, V. (1998). Response Time of a

Thermometer. The Physics Teacher, 540-541.