Tips on Thermowell Design, Provide strength to your thermowell installation.
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“Short” immersion lengths reduce drag and stress at root.
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“Fat” thermowells, at least at the root, increases the strength of the well at the weakest point of its structure. Enlarging the tip decreases the wake frequency of the thermowell, often without significant reduction to the installed natural frequency. Since keeping your thermowell’s wake frequency significantly below its installed natural frequency is key to avoiding vibration induced damage, enlarging the tip can often cause your thermowell to achieve longer immersion lengths without encountering dangerous resonance conditions induced by Von Karman vortices.
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“Slow” process fluids are unlikely to cause a thermowell to approach an unacceptable natural frequency or experience an unacceptable stress at its base.
For optimal temperature measurement, think of a more traditional basketball team - long, slender and fast.
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“Long” thermowells avoid or reduce the effects of stem loss error.
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“Thin” thermowells decrease the response time of your sensing element for the same reason that it takes longer to fry a Thanksgiving turkey than it does a chicken wing.
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“Fast” process fluids provide optimal heat transfer again accelerating the response time of your sensing element.