New Guide Supports Digital Contact Thermometers in Petroleum Industry

ASTM International’s committee on petroleum products, liquid fuels, and lubricants (D02) has approved a guide (D8164) that provides criteria for selecting digital contact thermometers (DCTs) that will accurately measure temperature when performing test methods.

The guide will help both manufacturers, standards developers, and users of DCTs in the petroleum industry. The criteria are based on the design and characteristics of liquid-in-glass (LiG) thermometers that have also successfully been used in the committee’s test methods.

“The thermal conductivity of a DCT probe is significantly different from that of a LiG thermometer,” says member Kenneth Henderson, consultant, McEinri Associates. “While this may not be a significant issue in stirred baths, it is very significant when measuring the temperature of small static samples.”

Henderson notes that this standard provides specific parameters for a DCT that are based on how the current Liquid-in-Glass temperature measurement device is currently used in a test method. The guide’s criteria will assist standards developers in establishing criteria for a DCT that is suitable for use in their test methods. DCT manufacturers will find the guide useful when offering devices and noting performance criteria for customers such as petroleum laboratories.