We are testing a couple heatsinks at work, one has type-K thermocouples, and the has type-T.

what are the differences between the 2? I know there are different metals used, but I'm looking for something that would throw off the results

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Jeff Zimmerman
To the optimist, the glass is half full.
To the pessimist, the glass is half empty.
To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

Jeff- Omega (omega.com)has a pretty good website - they might have some good 'white papers' or other technical documents that would be of use to you.

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stevez

 

You may find that the way the thermocouple leads are connected to the meter is the problem. the connection and metals used needs to mathch the thermocouple type.

Many meters have specific adapters for terminating thermocouples, so you don't induce an error voltage when the disimilar metals make contact.

 

Steve, thanks for the site, I'm going to have to take a look at it.

Zevon8, we are using a rather expensive (it looks expensive anyways) datalogger to measure the data. It has screw terminals for the thermocouples, then you specify in the software as to which type you are using. So I figure that this might not be the cause of the error.
Although there are 3 terminals for each channel, maybe the type k uses the bottom and middle, and the type t would use the top and middle.
Thanks for the suggestions

__________________
Jeff Zimmerman
To the optimist, the glass is half full.
To the pessimist, the glass is half empty.
To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.