A New Mercury Gas-Controlled Heat Pipe for Temperature Amplifier and as Calibration Facility

摘要

At the Italian National Research Institute of Metrology, the activities and studies concerning gas-controlled heat pipes are constantly increasing in terms of involved personnel, instrumentation, and devices available. In the last two years, among the other activities, a totally new gas-controlled heat pipe operating with mercury as the working fluid has been designed, manufactured, and completely characterized. This heat pipe is made of stainless steel and provided with three thermometer wells. A dedicated furnace has been constructed and specific software algorithms have been implemented for the temperature and pressure control. This device will be used as a low-temperature reference for the new "Temperature Amplifier" and as a calibration facility for thermometers calibrated by comparison between 220 deg C and 450 deg C. All details regarding this heat pipe, including the assembly, filling, and testing procedures, and the complete characterization campaign are summarized here. Results in terms of temperature stability, uniformity, and time response are reported, and demonstrate the capabilities of this gas-controlled heat pipe to be a useful device for research and applications in contact thermometry. Another gas-controlled heat pipe operating with mercury and provided with six thermometer wells has been manufactured, and will be characterized for the contact thermometry calibration laboratory at INRiM and for other calibration companies in Italy; this device is also presented.