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It is well known that reaction rates and physical properties of any substance depend on the temperature. Therefore, an accurate temperature measurement is a key factor for successful activities both in chemical laboratories and industrial plants. Although plenty of sensors can be adopted for temperature measurements, thermocouples are the most widely used. In this article we present a signal-conditioning module, based on the AD594C chip (Analog Devices, Inc.), which can be easily built at low cost and overcomes the drawbacks associated with thermocouple use. The results show good linearity and reproducibility of the temperature readout. After testing, it has been used to monitor the temperature of polymerization reactors in our labs.

A low-cost thermocouple signal-conditioning module, which is built using the AD594C chip from Analog Devices Inc., is described. This chip compensates for the drawbacks of the thermocouple as it amplifies the signal, provides the cold-junction temperature compensation, and also produces an output of 10 mV/degree Celsius directly from the thermocouple input signal.