Temperature sensors are devices used to measure the temperature of a medium. There are 2 kinds on temperature sensors: 1) contact sensors and 2) noncontact sensors. However, the 3 main types are thermometers, resistance temperature detectors, and thermocouples. All three of these sensors measure a physical property (i.e. volume of a liquid, current through a wire), which changes as a function of temperature. In addition to the 3 main types of temperature sensors, there are numerous other temperature sensors available for use.

Contact Sensors

Contact temperature sensors measure the temperature of the object to which the sensor is in contact by assuming or knowing that the two (sensor and the object) are in thermal equilibrium, in other words, there is no heat flow between them.

Examples (below)

• Thermocouples
• Resistance Temperature Detectors (RTDs)
• Full System Thermometers
• Bimetallic Thermometers

A Humidity Sensor an instrument used for measuring the moisture content in the atmosphere. Humidity measurement instruments usually rely on measurements of some other quantity such as temperature, pressure, mass or a mechanical or electrical change in a substance as moisture is absorbed. By calibration and calculation, these measured quantities can lead to a measurement of humidity. Modern electronic devices use temperature of condensation (the dew point), or changes in electrical capacitance or resistance to measure humidity differences. The first practical hygrometer was invented by polymath Johann Heinrich Lambert in 1755.