Psychrometer
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A hair tension dial hygrometer with a nonlinear scale. A hygrometer is an instrument that measures
humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...
: that is, how much
water vapor Water vapor, water vapour, or aqueous vapor is the gaseous phase of Properties of water, water. It is one Phase (matter), state of water within the hydrosphere. Water vapor can be produced from the evaporation or boiling of liquid water or from th ...
is present. Humidity measurement instruments usually rely on measurements of some other quantities, such as temperature, pressure, mass, and mechanical or electrical changes in a substance as moisture is absorbed. By calibration and calculation, these measured quantities can be used to indicate the humidity. Modern electronic devices use the temperature of condensation (called the dew point), or they sense changes in electrical
capacitance Capacitance is the ability of an object to store electric charge. It is measured by the change in charge in response to a difference in electric potential, expressed as the ratio of those quantities. Commonly recognized are two closely related ...
or resistance. The maximum amount of water vapor that can be present in a given volume (at saturation) varies greatly with temperature; at low temperatures a lower mass of water per unit volume can remain as vapor than at high temperatures. Thus a change in the temperature changes the relative humidity. A prototype hygrometer was invented by
Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...
in 1480. Major improvements occurred during the 1600s; Francesco Folli invented a more practical version of the device, and Robert Hooke improved a number of meteorological devices, including the hygrometer. A more modern version was created by Swiss polymath Johann Heinrich Lambert in 1755. Later, in the year 1783, Swiss physicist and geologist Horace Bénédict de Saussure invented a hygrometer that uses a stretched human hair as its sensor. In the late 17th century, some scientists called humidity-measuring instruments ''hygroscopes''; that word is no longer in use, but ''hygroscopic'' and '' hygroscopy'', which derive from it, still are.


Classical hygrometer


Ancient hygrometers

Crude hygrometers were devised and developed during the
Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou d ...
in Ancient China to study weather. The Chinese used a bar of charcoal and a lump of earth: its dry weight was taken, then compared with its damp weight after being exposed in the air. The differences in weight were used to tally the humidity level. Other techniques were applied using mass to measure humidity, such as when the air was dry, the bar of charcoal would be light, while when the air was humid, the bar of charcoal would be heavy. By hanging a lump of earth on one end of a staff and a bar of charcoal on the other end and attaching a fixed lifting string to the middle point to make the staff horizontal in dry air, an ancient hygrometer was made.


Metal-paper coil type

The metal-paper coil hygrometer is very useful for giving a dial indication of humidity changes. It appears most often in inexpensive devices, and its accuracy is limited, with variations of 10% or more. In these devices, water vapor is absorbed by a salt-impregnated paper strip attached to a metal coil, causing the coil to change shape. These changes (analogous to those in a bimetallic thermometer) cause an indication on a dial. There is usually a metal needle on the front of the gauge that points to a scale.


Hair tension hygrometers

These devices use a human or animal hair under some tension. (Whalebone and other materials may be used in place of hair.) The hair is hygroscopic (tending toward retaining moisture); its length changes with humidity, and the length change may be magnified by a mechanism and indicated on a dial or scale. Swiss physicist and geologist Horace Bénédict de Saussure was the first to build such a hygrometer, in 1783. The traditional folk art device known as a
weather house A weather house is a folk art device in the shape of a small German or Alpine chalet that indicates the weather. A typical weather house has two doors side by side. The left side has a girl or woman, the right side a boy or man. The female ...
also works on this principle. The pulley is connected to an index which moves over a graduated scale (e). The instrument can be made more sensitive by removing oils from the hair, such as by first soaking the hair in
diethyl ether Diethyl ether, or simply ether, is an organic compound with the chemical formula , sometimes abbreviated as . It is a colourless, highly Volatility (chemistry), volatile, sweet-smelling ("ethereal odour"), extremely flammable liquid. It belongs ...
.


Psychrometer (wet-and-dry-bulb thermometer)

A psychrometer, or a wet and dry-bulb thermometer, consists of two calibrated thermometers, one that is dry and one that is kept moist with distilled water on a sock or wick. At temperatures above the freezing point of water,
evaporation Evaporation is a type of vaporization that occurs on the Interface (chemistry), surface of a liquid as it changes into the gas phase. A high concentration of the evaporating substance in the surrounding gas significantly slows down evapora ...
of water from the wick lowers the
temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer. It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making ...
, such that the wet-bulb thermometer will be at a lower temperature than that of the dry-bulb thermometer. When the air temperature is below freezing, however, the wet-bulb must be covered with a thin coating of ice, in order to be accurate. As a result of the heat of sublimation, the wet-bulb temperature will eventually be lower than the dry bulb, although this may take many minutes of continued use of the psychrometer. Relative humidity (RH) is computed from the ambient temperature, shown by the dry-bulb thermometer and the difference in temperatures as shown by the wet-bulb and dry-bulb thermometers. Relative humidity can also be determined by locating the intersection of the wet and dry-bulb temperatures on a psychrometric chart. The dry and wet thermometers coincide when the air is fully saturated, and the greater the difference the drier the air. Psychrometers are commonly used in
meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...
, and in the
heating, ventilation, and air conditioning Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC ) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. H ...
(HVAC) industry for proper refrigerant charging of residential and commercial air conditioning systems.


Sling psychrometer

A sling psychrometer, which uses thermometers attached to a handle, is manually spun in free air flow until both temperatures stabilize. This is sometimes used for field measurements but is being replaced by more convenient electronic sensors. A whirling psychrometer uses the same principle, but the two thermometers are fitted into a device that resembles a ratchet or football rattle.


Chilled mirror dew point hygrometer

Dew point is the temperature at which a sample of moist air (or any other
water vapor Water vapor, water vapour, or aqueous vapor is the gaseous phase of Properties of water, water. It is one Phase (matter), state of water within the hydrosphere. Water vapor can be produced from the evaporation or boiling of liquid water or from th ...
) at constant pressure reaches water vapor saturation. At this saturation temperature, further cooling results in condensation of water. Chilled mirror dewpoint hygrometers are some of the most precise instruments commonly available. They use a chilled mirror and optoelectronic mechanism to detect condensation on the mirror's surface. The temperature of the mirror is controlled by electronic feedback to maintain a dynamic equilibrium between evaporation and condensation, thus closely measuring the dew point temperature. An accuracy of 0.2 °C is attainable with these devices, which correlates at typical office environments to a relative humidity accuracy of about ±1.2%. Older chilled-mirrors used a metallic mirror that needed cleaning and skilled labor. Newer implementations of chilled-mirrors use highly polished surfaces that do not require routine cleaning. More recently, spectroscopic chilled-mirrors have been introduced. Using this method, the dew point is determined with spectroscopic light detection which ascertains the nature of the condensation. This method avoids many of the pitfalls of the previous chilled-mirrors and is capable of operating drift free. Chilled-mirrors remain the reference measurement for calibration of other hygrometers. This is due to their fundamental first-principle nature that refers to the core of condensation physics and measures temperature, which is one of the base quantities of the
International System of Quantities The International System of Quantities (ISQ) is a standard system of Quantity, quantities used in physics and in modern science in general. It includes basic quantities such as length and mass and the relationships between those quantities. This ...
(length, time, amount of substance, electric current, temperature, luminous intensity, mass).


Modern hygrometers


Capacitive

When cost, space, or fragility are important, other types of electronic sensors are used, at the price of lower accuracy. Capacitive hygrometers measure the effect of humidity on the
dielectric constant The relative permittivity (in older texts, dielectric constant) is the permittivity of a material expressed as a ratio with the electric permittivity of a vacuum. A dielectric is an insulating material, and the dielectric constant of an insul ...
of a
polymer A polymer () is a chemical substance, substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeat unit, repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their br ...
or a metal oxide. When calibrated, their accuracy at relative humidities between 5% and 95% is ±2% RH; uncalibrated, this is two to three times worse. Capacitive sensors are robust against effects such as condensation and temporary high temperatures,D.K. Roveti
Choosing a Humidity Sensor: A Review of Three Technologies
Sensors Magazine (2001).
but subject to
contamination Contamination is the presence of a constituent, impurity, or some other undesirable element that renders something unsuitable, unfit or harmful for the physical body, natural environment, workplace, etc. Types of contamination Within the scien ...
, drift and aging effects. They are, however, suitable for many applications.


Resistive

In resistive hygrometers, the change in
electrical resistance The electrical resistance of an object is a measure of its opposition to the flow of electric current. Its reciprocal quantity is , measuring the ease with which an electric current passes. Electrical resistance shares some conceptual paral ...
of a material due to humidity is measured. Typical materials are salts and conductive polymers. Resistive sensors are less sensitive than capacitive sensors – the change in material properties is less, so they require more complex circuitry. The material properties also tend to depend both on humidity and temperature, which means in practice that the sensor must be combined with a temperature sensor. The accuracy and robustness against condensation vary depending on the chosen resistive material. Robust, condensation-resistant sensors exist with an accuracy of up to ±3% RH (
relative humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...
).


Thermal

In thermal hygrometers, the change in
thermal conductivity The thermal conductivity of a material is a measure of its ability to heat conduction, conduct heat. It is commonly denoted by k, \lambda, or \kappa and is measured in W·m−1·K−1. Heat transfer occurs at a lower rate in materials of low ...
of air due to humidity is measured. These sensors measure absolute humidity rather than relative humidity.


Gravimetric

A gravimetric hygrometer extracts the water from the air (or other gas) and weighs it separately, for example by weighing a desiccant before and after it has absorbed the water. The temperature, pressure and volume of the resulting dry gas are also measured, providing enough information to calculate the amount of water per mole of gas. This is considered the most accurate primary method of measuring absolute humidity, and national standards based on it have been developed in US, UK, EU and Japan. However, the inconvenience of using such devices means they are usually only used to calibrate less accurate instruments, called Transfer Standards.


Optical

An optical hygrometer measures the absorption of light by water in the air. A light emitter and a light detector are arranged with a volume of air between them. The attenuation of the light, as seen by the detector, indicates the
humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...
, according to the Beer–Lambert law. Types include the Lyman-alpha hygrometer (using Lyman-alpha light emitted by hydrogen), the krypton hygrometer (using 123.58 nm light emitted by
krypton Krypton (from 'the hidden one') is a chemical element; it has symbol (chemistry), symbol Kr and atomic number 36. It is a colorless, odorless noble gas that occurs in trace element, trace amounts in the Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere and is of ...
), and the differential absorption hygrometer (using light emitted by two lasers operating at different wavelengths, one absorbed by humidity and the other not).


Applications

Aside from greenhouses and industrial spaces, hygrometers are also used in some incubators, saunas, humidors and
museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...
s. They are also used in the care of wooden musical instruments such as pianos, guitars, violins, and harps which can be damaged by improper humidity conditions. Hygrometers play a big part in firefighting as the lower the relative humidity, the more vigorously fuels may burn. In residential settings, hygrometers are used to assist in humidity control (too low humidity can damage human skin and body, while too high humidity favors growth of mildew and dust mite). Hygrometers are also used in the coating industry because the application of paint and other coatings may be very sensitive to humidity and dew point.


Difficulty of accurate humidity measurement

Humidity measurement is among the most difficult problems in basic metrology. According to the WMO Guide, "The achievable accuracies or humidity determinationlisted in the table refer to good quality instruments that are well operated and maintained. In practice, these are not easy to achieve." Two thermometers can be compared by immersing them both in an insulated vessel of water (or alcohol, for temperatures below the freezing point of water) and stirring vigorously to minimize temperature variations. A high-quality liquid-in-glass thermometer if handled with care should remain stable for some years. Hygrometers must be calibrated in air, which is a much less effective heat transfer medium than is water, and many types are subject to drift so need regular recalibration. A further difficulty is that most hygrometers sense relative humidity rather than the absolute amount of water present, but relative humidity is a function of both temperature and absolute moisture content, so small temperature variations within the air in a test chamber will translate into relative humidity variations. In a cold and humid environment, ice may sublimate on the sensor head, whether it is a hair, dew cell, mirror, capacitance sensing element, or dry-bulb thermometer of an aspiration psychrometer. The ice on the probe matches the reading to the saturation humidity with respect to ice at that temperature, i.e. the frost point. However, a conventional hygrometer is unable to measure properly under the frost point, and the only way to go around this fundamental problem is to use a heated humidity probe.


Calibration standards


Psychrometer calibration

Accurate calibration of the thermometers used is fundamental to precise humidity determination by the wet-dry method. The thermometers must be protected from radiant heat and must have a sufficiently high flow of air over the wet bulb for the most accurate results. One of the most precise types of wet-dry bulb psychrometer was invented in the late 19th century by Adolph Richard Assmann (1845–1918); in English-language references the device is usually spelled "Assmann psychrometer." In this device, each thermometer is suspended within a vertical tube of polished metal, and that tube is in turn suspended within a second metal tube of slightly larger diameter; these double tubes serve to isolate the thermometers from radiant heating. Air is drawn through the tubes with a fan that is driven by a clockwork mechanism to ensure a consistent speed (some modern versions use an electric fan with electronic speed control).Smithsonian Catalog of Meteorological Instruments in the Museum of History and Technology
Prepared by W. E. Knowles Middleton
According to Middleton, 1966, "an essential point is that air is drawn between the concentric tubes, as well as through the inner one."A History of the Thermometer by W. E. Knowles Middleton, Johns Hopkins Press 1966 It is very challenging, particularly at low relative humidity, to obtain the maximal theoretical depression of the wet-bulb temperature; an Australian study in the late 1990s found that liquid-in-glass wet-bulb thermometers were warmer than theory predicted even when considerable precautions were taken; these could lead to RH value readings that are 2 to 5 percent points too high. One solution sometimes used for accurate humidity measurement when the air temperature is below freezing is to use a thermostatically controlled electric heater to raise the temperature of outside air to above freezing. In this arrangement, a fan draws outside air past (1) a thermometer to measure the ambient dry-bulb temperature, (2) the heating element, (3) a second thermometer to measure the dry-bulb temperature of the heated air, then finally (4) a wet-bulb thermometer. According to the World Meteorological Organization Guide, "The principle of the heated psychrometer is that the water vapor content of an air mass does not change if it is heated. This property may be exploited to the advantage of the psychrometer by avoiding the need to maintain an ice bulb under freezing conditions.". Since the humidity of the ambient air is calculated indirectly from three temperature measurements, in such a device accurate thermometer calibration is even more important than for a two-bulb configuration.


Saturated salt calibration

Various researchersSalt Calibration of Hygrometers
/ref> have investigated the use of saturated salt solutions for calibrating hygrometers. Slushy mixtures of certain pure salts and distilled water have the property that they maintain an approximately constant humidity in a closed container. A saturated table salt (
sodium chloride Sodium chloride , commonly known as Salt#Edible salt, edible salt, is an ionic compound with the chemical formula NaCl, representing a 1:1 ratio of sodium and chloride ions. It is transparent or translucent, brittle, hygroscopic, and occurs a ...
) bath will eventually give a reading of approximately 75%. Other salts have other equilibrium humidity levels: Lithium chloride ~11%; Magnesium chloride ~33%; Potassium carbonate ~43%; Potassium sulfate ~97%. Salt solutions will vary somewhat in humidity with temperature and they can take relatively long times to come to equilibrium, but their ease of use compensates somewhat for these disadvantages in low precision applications, such as checking mechanical and electronic hygrometers.


See also

* Automated airport weather station * Dewcell * Friar of the weather * Humidistat * Moisture analysis * Soil moisture sensor


References


External links


IMA moisture measurement training site



NIST page on humidity calibration



Article on RH sensors

NOAA homepage for cryogenic chilled-mirror frostpoint hygrometers
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