THERMISTORS AND THEIR USE IN METEOROLOGY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600360359-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 359
• Publication Date: November 27, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

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CLASSIFICATION SECRET SE~IRET
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
1N FORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT Scientific - Geophysics, meteorology
HOW
PUBLISHED Bimonthly periodi^al
WHERE
PUBLISHED Leningrad
DATE
PUBLISHED Sep 1948
TNIt OOCU YtNT CONTAIN[ IN TORY Al10N Af/IOTINO TN[ NA710NAL D[/tNi[
OI TM[ UNIT[D O1AT[3 ^ITNIM TN[ YtA MINR 01 1l IIONADt ACT !0
Y. 3. 0., 31 ANO 1i, A! AY lNOLO. 173 TRAN''?3310N OR TM[ R[YtLAT10N
Of ITi CO NT[NTt IN ANT YANNLR '0 AM UNAUTN ORI[Ip I[RlOM I! IRO?
NIHTID tT LAN. R[IROOUCTION OF TNI! TORY IS lpONl [ITt O.
CD N0,
DATE OF
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT N0.
SOURCE Meteorologiya i Gidrologiya, Iio 5, 1948, pp 88-93.
THERMISTOt2S A1fD THEIR USE II( METEOROLOGY
Ye. P, Gersht
B. V. Gorelik
Diges~
The uses of thermistors are many and varied, and their field of applica-
tion continues to expand. Thermistors are used for automatic temperature reg-
ulation of volume in negative-feedback amplifiers and for measurement of power
at auperhigh frequencies; as time relays in telephone circuits, instruments Por
temperature regulation, remote control cutout switches, generators, modulators,
amplifiers, starting current limiters, manometers, anemometers, compensators of
the temperature variation of conductors, and finally as thermometers, The com-
pensating potentialities oP thermiatora have been thoroughly studied.
Such advantages as small size, comparative simplicity oP production, cheap-
ness, stability over a wide range of temperatures, and possible use ae remote-
~ontrol thermometers make the introduction of thermistors into meteorological
practice compulsory. " 'e last potentiality was illustrated in a 'work by Kolomi-
yets and Sheftel' (1,), itt which a bridge circuit was used for remote measure-
ment of the temperature oP s granary 100-150 meters from their laboratory, Tem-
peratures from 0 to 50? C were measured with an error oP 0,1? C, and it was e~-
phasized that this sensitivity was not to be regarded as a maximum. The entire
metering circuit in their unit was m9unted in a wooden box 33 x 22 x 12 cm. A
galvanometer with sensitivity of 10- amp division was usad at the output, One
dry cell was used for the supply source, This work also convincingly demon-
strated that uranium dioxide thermistor thermometer has considerably less iner-
tia than a mercury thermometer,
The temperature of ,moving bodies or bodies whose temperature is too high
to be measured directly by the contact method can be measured with the help of?
thermistors placed ial the Pocus oP an elliptical mirror which gathers radistion
Prom the object whose temperature is to be measured. It is important that the
sensitivity of thermiators be considerably Higher than that oP thermopiles and
bolometers,
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The most impor+,ant property of thermistors for meteorology es well as for
other fields 14 the strong d?pendency of their r~sietance upon temperature.
Kolomiyets and Sheftel' (1) designed uraniam dioxide thermistors with a tem-
perature coefficient of resistance of 3.15 per degree in the temperature in-
terval 15-25? r. Kolomiyets (2) s1EO conGtructed a table ~ppended] for elec-
trical conductivity and temperature coefficient of resistance of a number of
other substances.
Another important property of thermistors is aging, i.e., change of therm-
istor resistaance with time for the same temperature. In some thermistors, the
ag.'_ng process occurs in the first 2-3 dyas of production, 1n which time the re-
sistance changes by 20-2596 (1) Lack of stability due to aging could hinder
the use of thermistors in practice, but this @an easily be avoided. The uran-
ium dioxide thermistors designed by Kolomiyets and Sheftel' had high stability.
Stable thermistors can be obtained by observing the following specifications:
(1) the thermistors must be made from semiconductors having purely electron con-
ductivity because ionic conductivity causes irreversible processes; (2) possi-
bility of chemical reactions between the thermistor substance and air must be
ciiauiudtcu PJi oii ~ciuyoi&~~u@e a~ ruii:u sue 4uerLllefl.Ur viii operate; (jj tI1C
admixtures contained in the thermistor material must be in equilibrium and the
point of equilibrium must shift very slowly for a changing temperature; (4)
good contact of the electrodes with the thermistor must be provided by the se-
lection of accurate coefficients of expansion for the electrode and thermistor
materiels; and (5) the thermistors should undergo for a long period (days or
xeeka, depending upon the type) at a temperature slightly higher than the op-
erating temperature,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Kolomiyets, B. T., and Sheftel' 1 Teknicheskay Fiziki,
Vol XII, 110 10, 1947, p 1105.
2. Kolomiyets, B. T., Elektrichestvo, 210 3, 1947, p 20
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~.lpha C>C is given for the temperature interval 16 to 20? C
Sigma (l ie measured at 20? C
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