THERMOELECTRIC HIGH-FLOW DETECTOR

Abstract

The thermoelectric leak detector consists of a housing made of heat-insulating material, protected on the side surface by a metal casing that does not have thermal contact with other structural elements of the device; heat exchange elements; a multi-element thermoelectric battery with pre-established dependencies of its thermoelectromotive force on the temperature gradient on the working faces of the thermoelectric battery and the specific heat flux passing through it; adiabatic thermal insulation of the side faces of the thermoelectric battery; an electronic unit; an electric energy accumulator; a soil surface temperature sensor. The working faces of the thermoelectric battery have thermal contact with the heat exchange elements, and the thermoelectric battery in the mode of generating electric power, when a temperature gradient occurs on its working faces, simultaneously performs the function of a charger for the electric energy accumulator.In this case, the thermoelectric battery has thermal contact with one heat exchange element that is in contact with the soil surface, and with another that is in thermal contact with a radiator for removing the heat used by the thermoelectric battery into the surrounding environment. The thermoelectric battery is designed to directly convert the specific heat flux from the soil surface into an electrical signal and is connected to the input of an electronic unit designed to record the specified signal and compare its values ​​obtained on the soil surfaces adjacent to the expected leak location.