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US 7,621,672 B2Granted
Thermocouple shield
AssigneeBabcock & Wilcox Technical Services Y-12, LLC
InventorEdward B. Ripley
Life of this patent
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AssigneeBabcock & Wilcox Technical Services Y-12, LLC
InventorEdward B. Ripley
Estimating the term…
A thermocouple shield for use in radio frequency fields. In some embodiments the shield includes an electrically conductive tube that houses a standard thermocouple having a thermocouple junction. The electrically conductive tube protects the thermocouple from damage by an RF (including microwave) field and mitigates erroneous temperature readings due to the microwave or RF field. The thermocouple may be surrounded by a ceramic sheath to further protect the thermocouple. The ceramic sheath is generally formed from a material that is transparent to the wavelength of the microwave or RF energy. The microwave transparency property precludes heating of the ceramic sheath due to microwave coupling, which could affect the accuracy of temperature measurements. The ceramic sheath material is typically an electrically insulating material. The electrically insulative properties of the ceramic sheath help avert electrical arcing, which could damage the thermocouple junction. The electrically conductive tube is generally disposed around the thermocouple junction and disposed around at least a portion of the ceramic sheath. The concepts of the thermocouple shield may be incorporated into an integrated shielded thermocouple assembly.
A thermocouple shield for shielding a thermocouple device from a radio frequency field at an operating temperature “T,” the thermocouple device having a maximum width “W” and having a thermocouple junction with a length “L,” the thermocouple shield comprising:
A thermocouple shield for shielding a thermocouple probe from a radio frequency field having a frequency, where the thermocouple probe comprises an electrically conductive jacket having a tip end surrounding a thermocouple junction, and where the thermocouple probe has a maximum diameter “D,” the thermocouple shield comprising:
A shielded thermocouple assembly for use in an RF processing chamber having a radio frequency field, the shielded thermocouple assembly comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.