Practical acoustic thermometry

摘要

Temperature measurement is important to a greater or lesser extent in any engineering endeavour. In a power station using steam turbines to generate electricity, accurate temperature measurement is critical in optimising plant operation. In a nuclear power station measurement of temperature is just as critical, but in irradiated areas the measurement is complicated by the fact that all conventional temperature sensors misread substantially when exposed to radiation. It would be a considerable benefit to have a thermometer that could be relied upon to read correctly even after millions of grays of irradiation. In this article I will describe a Practical Acoustic Thermometer (PAT) which could potentially fulfil this task.