Name: KATHLYN L.

GARCIA Subject: ENERGY CONVERSION

Course/Yr&Sec: BSECE-4A Instructor: ENGR. WENIFREDO PACER

THERMOELECTRIC SENSORS: THERMOCOUPLES

Thermoelectric sensors are based on two effects that are reversible as contrasted with the irreversible
Joule effect. They are the Peltier effect and the Thomson effect. Historically, it was Thomas J. Seebeck who first
discovered in1822 that in a circuit with two dissimilar homogeneous metals A and B, having two junctions at
different temperatures, an electric current arises. The Thomson effect, discovered by William Thomson
(later Lord Kelvin) in 1847-1854, consists of heat absorption or liberation in a homogeneous conductor
with a non homogeneous temperature when there is a current along it. The heat liberated is proportional
to the current, not to its square, and therefore changes its sign for a reversed current. Heat is absorbed
when charges flow from the colder to the hotter points, and it is liberated when they flow from the
hotter to the colder one. In other words, heat is absorbed when charge and heat flow inopposite
directions, and heat is liberated when they flow in the same direction.
Thermoscouples are frequently used as sensors for temperature measurement.

Advantages of thermocouples
1. Broad measurement range
2. Acceptable long term stability and high realiability
3. Higher accuracy than RTDs at low temperatures
4. Small size and fast speed of response
5. Can be used with long connection wires

Limitations
1. Must ensure that the environment that it is put in does not attack any of the junction metals.
Resistance to becoming oxidized at high temperatures.
2. One of the junctions must be kept at a fixed temperature if the temperature at the oyher
junction would result in a serious error because the output voltage is very small, typically
from 6μV/°C to 75μV/°C.
Name: KATHLYN L. GARCIA Subject: ENERGY CONVERSION

Course/Yr&Sec: BSECE-4A Instructor: ENGR. WENIFREDO PACER

PYROELECTRIC SENSORS

The Pyroelectric Effect

The pyroelectric effect is analogous to the piezoelectric effect, but instead of change in stress
displacing electric charge, now it refers to change intemperature causing change in spontaneous
polarization and resultingchange in electric charge. When the change in temperature ΔT is uniform
throughout the material, the pyroelectric effect can be described by means of the pyroelectric coefficient,
which is a vector p with the equation 𝛥𝑃 = 𝑝𝛥𝑇, where P is the spontaneous polarization. This effect is
mainly used for thermal radiation detection at ambienttemperature. Two metallic electrodes are deposited
on faces perpendicular tothe direction of the polarization, which yields a capacitor (Cd) acting asthermal
sensor. When the detector absorbs radiation, its temperature and hence its polarization changes, thus
resulting in a surface charge on thecapacitor plates.

Pyroelectricity

Pyroelectricity is the ability of a certain materials to generate an electrical potential when they are
heated or cooled. As a result of this change in temperature, positive and negative charges move to opposite
ends through migration (i.e. the material becomes polarized) and hence, an electrical potential is
established.

Pyroelectric Materials

There are two groups of pyroelectric materials: Linear and Ferroelectric. The polarization of linear
materials cannot be changed by inverting the electric field. Examples are tourmaline, lithium sulfate and
cadmium. Ferroelectric materials with pyroelectric properties are lithium tantalite, strontium and barium
niobate. Pyroelectric properties disappear at the Curie temperature.
Name: KATHLYN L. GARCIA Subject: ENERGY CONVERSION

Course/Yr&Sec: BSECE-4A Instructor: ENGR. WENIFREDO PACER

PHOTOVOLTAICSENSORS

The Photovoltaic Effect

The photovoltaic effect is the basic physical process through which a PV (solar) cell converts
sunlight into electricity. Sunlight is composed of photons--packets of solar energy. These photons contain
different amounts of energy that correspond to the different wavelengths of the solar spectrum. When
photons strike a PV cell, they may be reflected or absorbed, or they may pass right through. The absorbed
photons generate electricity. French physicist Edmond Becquerel first described the photovoltaic (PV)
effect in 1839. The effect was first studied in solids, such as selenium, by Heinrich Hertz in the 1870s. In
the 1940’s, Selenium PV cells were converting light to electricity at 1% to 2% efficiency. The energy of a
photon is transferred to an electron in an atom of the semiconductor device. With its new found energy, the
electron is able to escape from its normal position associated with a single atom in the semiconductor to
become part of the current in an electrical circuit.

The Photovoltaic Sensors

When the internal photoelectric effect discussed for photoconductorsoccurs in a p-n junction, it is
possible to obtain a voltage that is afunction of the incoming radiation intensity. The photovoltaic effect
isthe generation of an electric potential when the radiation ionizes aregion where there is a potential barrier.
When a p-doped semiconductor (doped with acceptors) contacts an n-doped semiconductor (doped with
donors), because of the thermalagitation there are electrons that go into the p region and ``holes'' thatmove
into the n-region. There they recombine with charge carriers of opposite sign. As aresult, at both sides of
the contact surface there are very few freecharge carriers.
The accumulation of electrons in the n region and of holes in the p region results in a change in
contact potential Vp that can be measured by means of external connections to a load resistance. This open
circuit voltage increases with the intensity of the incidental radiation, until a saturation point is reached (the
limit is the band-gap energy).