Polymer insulated thermocouple bundles
A thermocouple cable is formed from a tubing and a plurality of thermocouple conductors bundled within the tubing, wherein each thermocouple conductor forms a junction with a shared thermocouple conductor to form a thermocouple junction, and each thermocouple junction is attached to a support cable in a thermocouple bundle. The cable is formed by pulling the thermocouple bundle into the tubing.
1. A thermocouple cable comprising a tubing and a plurality of thermocouple conductors bundled within the tubing, wherein each thermocouple conductor forms a separate junction with a shared thermocouple conductor to form a corresponding thermocouple junction, and forming a plurality of thermocouple junctions spaced apart from each other,
wherein each thermocouple junction of the plurality thermocouple junctions, includes the shared thermocouple conductor, and each thermocouple junction is attached to a common support cable inside a thermocouple bundle and the support cable is either the same or separate from the shared thermocouple conductor.
2. The cable of claim 1 wherein the support cable runs at least the length between all thermocouple junctions and is attached to each junction.
3. The cable of claim 1 wherein the support cable comprises aramid fibers.
4. The cable of claim 1 , wherein the each thermocouple junction is encased in a moisture resistant sleeve.
5. The cable of claim 1 wherein the each thermocouple bundle comprises a multilayer heat shrink sleeve.
6. The cable of claim 5 wherein one or all of the heat shrink sleeve layers comprises a fluoropolymer.
7. The cable of claim 6 wherein an outer layer comprise polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and an inner layer comprises perfluoroalkoxy (PFA) copolymer or fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) copolymer.
8. The cable of claim 1 wherein each thermocouple conductor is insulated with a dielectric polymer a melting point above about 200° C.
9. The cable of claim 1 wherein the tubing is filled with a high-temperature matrix which embeds the entire bundle of thermocouple conductors, thermocouple points and thermocouple bundles.
10. The cable of claim 1 wherein the shared thermocouple conductor forms the support cable.
11. The cable of claim 8 , wherein the dielectric polymer melting point is greater than 250° C.
12. The cable of claim 11 wherein the dielectric polymer melting point is greater than 300° C.
13. The cable of claim 1 , wherein the support cable is separate from the shared thermocouple conductor.
14. A thermocouple cable comprising a tubing and a plurality of thermocouple conductors bundled within the tubing, wherein each thermocouple conductor forms a separate junction with a shared thermocouple conductor to form a corresponding thermocouple junction, and forming a plurality of thermocouple junctions spaced apart from each other,
wherein each thermocouple function, of the plurality of thermocouple functions, includes the shared thermocouple conductor, and the shared thermocouple cable forms a support cable.
15. The cable of claim 14 , wherein the shared thermocouple cable serves a dual purpose of providing a physical backbone in the thermocouple cable, and acting as an electrical conductor.