New thermocouples offer longer life in harsh process environments

A new thermocouple has been launched that offers high performance and longer life in harsh process environments, providing superior resistance to temperature, vibration, impact, corrosion and abrasion.

The new AEROPAK GREAT from Okazaki Manufacturing Company (OMC) is a thick wall mineral insulated (MI) thermocouple cable, which is ideally suited to harsh, high temperature process environments such as incinerators, heat treatment furnaces and industrial ovens, as well as for measuring the temperature of molten metal. AEROPAK GREAT can also be supplied with a hard coating such as cement or Stellite, which offer superior resistance in other harsh high temperature applications, including heavy oil, pulverised coal-firing furnaces, cement kilns and dispersion kneaders used in the mixing of plastics or rubber.     

With AEROPAK GREAT, the gap between the element and the thick wall sheath is densely filled with high purity magnesium oxide (MgO), which prevents any residual air from penetrating the sheath. This enables faster response times compared to conventional standard thermocouples.

AEROPAK GREAT offers long life even under harsh operating conditions, and is available in long cable lengths of up to 10 metres. As Chris Chant, Business Development Manager at Okazaki Manufacturing Company comments: “AEROPAK GREAT is manufactured using OMC’s special cold drawn technology, which enables such long lengths of high quality cable to be produced. The thermocouple element is protected by the thick wall sheath and high purity magnesium oxide, which enables the product to withstand severe conditions, providing excellent corrosion and heat resistance.”

AEROPAK GREAT is supplied in large diameters with a very thick wall sheath (up to 22mm outside diameter), providing a high resistance to vibration and impact shocks.

AEROPAK GREAT performs very well in bright annealing furnaces and carburisation ovens, where Ta (tantalum) wires are added to Hoskins 2300 material, the selective oxidation rate of Type K thermocouple wire when exposed to H2 gas can be reduced significantly.

When combined with a silicon nitride protection tube, AEROPAK GREAT is able to withstand the very high temperatures associated with molten metal applications.

Supplied with an easy-to-use terminal head, AEROPAK GREAT is suitable for a wide range of temperature sensors and RTDs.

For more information on OMC’s AEROPAK GREAT range of thermocouples, please visit the website at www.okazaki-mfg.co.uk or contact the sales department on 02920 814361 or E-mail: info@okazaki-mfg.co.uk