Temperature Sensors

Find industrial Thermocouples, RTDs, Thermocouple Instrumentation, and RTD instrumentation for most industrial temperature-sensing applications for testing or OEM products. We have the right accessories to make the sensors easy to use. We’re always available to help you figure out the best product to use; we have an applications engineer on staff to help you with a specific application.

Technical Information about Thermocouples 

Understanding Thermocouple Time Constants & Response Times

We are often asked about the responsiveness of sheathed mineral insulated Thermocouples.

Here are some important terms and factors to know... 

Time Constant

When researching the responsiveness of a thermocouple you will most often see it expressed as a Time Constant.  The Time Constant of a thermocouple is defined as the time required for the sensor to respond to 63.2% of its total output signal when subjected to a step change in temperature. 

Response Time

The Time Constant of a thermocouple is not the same as the Response Time.  When someone wants to know the Response Time of a thermocouple, they really want to know how long it takes the thermocouple to reach its full output.  Five Time Constants are required for the thermocouple to respond to 99.3% of the total step change temperature. See more information about this here.

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