Coaxial Nonmetallic Thermocouple with Electronic Ice Point for Dosimetric Use in Electromagnetic Environments

Abstract

AbstractA refined version of the nonmetallic thermocouple (NMT) is presented along with results of o microwave dosimetric testing of the device in a practical laboratory environment, A smaller device was achieved by using coaxial conductors of a dissimilar nature, and a slightly modified, commercially available electronic ice point provided temperature compensation of the secondary junctions adequate for normal laboratory use. Results of practical dosimetric comparisons in tissue-equivalent material between the coaxial NMT and a widely used, more sophisticated temperature probe showed mean specific absorption rate (SAR) to vary between 13.6% and 31%, but no statistically significant difference was observed in instances where the probes were compared at identical locations during irradiation.