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PRT's in a vacuum

Last post 08-22-2008, 1:41 PM by Vitreous Humor. 1 replies.
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  •  08-15-2008, 9:58 AM 1650

    PRT's in a vacuum

    Has anyone done this before?

    We have recently run into issues where PRT's begin to drift as the chamber pumps down.  This drift can cause up to a 7-12 degree disparity when compared to PRT's outside the vacuum chamber.

    Anyone ever figure out the underlying cause?

    Recently I placed 2 PRT's in a bell jar.  One of them was fully immersed, lead wires and all.  The second, only the sensing rod was exposed.  After pumping to approx. 100 microns, the PRT's drifted to about 12 degrees apart.

    However, I tried placing 12 PRT's within another chamber and had 2 PRT's with the sensing rod exposed.
    This chamber pumps to about 10-6 Torr and I have yet to catch any error.

    What's happening?
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  •  08-22-2008, 1:41 PM 1652 in reply to 1650

    Re: PRT's in a vacuum

    It is hard to tell exactly what you are seeing, but the most common thing that can happen because a PRT is placed into a vacuum, is a loss of the convective path for transfer of heat. As the vacuum is drawn, the measurements become more dependent on conductive paths and to a lesser degree, radiation. There are several possibilities for a differential as a result. It could be that one PRT has a good conductive path to dissipate the measuring current and another has little conductive path and is only able to radiate the heating. It could be that the unit with poor conductive path within the bell has a good conductive path to the outside of the bell where there may be a temperature differential.

     It would take more information on the parts involved and the test setup to suggest anything else.
     


    Vitreous Humor
    "Eye can see clearly now..."
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