Thermistor bolometer radiometer signal contamination due to parasitic heat diffusion

Kory J. Priestley; J. Robert Mahan; Martial P.A. Haeffelin; Maxim Savransky; Tai K. Nguyen

doi:10.1117/12.228605

15 December 1995 Thermistor bolometer radiometer signal contamination due to parasitic heat diffusion

Kory J. Priestley, J. Robert Mahan, Martial P.A. Haeffelin, Maxim Savransky, Tai K. Nguyen

Proceedings Volume 2583, Advanced and Next-Generation Satellites; (1995) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.228605
Event: Satellite Remote Sensing II, 1995, Paris, France

Abstract

Current efforts are directed at creating a high-level end-to-end numerical model of scanning thermistor bolometer radiometers of the type used in the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) and planned for the clouds and the earth's radiative energy system (CERES) platforms. The first-principle model accurately represents the physical processes relating the electrical signal output to the radiative flux incident to the instrument aperture as well as to the instrument thermal environment. Such models are useful for the optimal design of calibration procedures, data reduction strategies, and the instruments themselves. The modeled thermistor bolometer detectors are approximately 40 micrometers thick and consist of an absorber layer, the thermistor layer, and a thermal impedance layer bonded to a thick aluminum substrate which acts as a heat sink. Thermal and electrical diffusion in the thermistor bolometer detectors is represented by a several-hundred-node- finite-difference formulation, and the temperature field within the aluminum substrate is computed using the finite-element method. The detectors are electrically connected in adjacent arms of a two-active-arm bridge circuit so that the effects of common mode thermal noise are minimized. However, because of a combination of thermistor self heating, loading of the bridge by the bridge amplifier, and the nonlinear thermistor resistance-temperature relationship, bridge deflections can still be provoked by substrate temperature changes, even when the change is uniform across the substrate. Of course, transient temperature gradients which may occur in the substrate between the two detectors will be falsely interpreted as a radiation input. The paper represents the results of an investigation to define the degree of vulnerability of thermistor bolometer radiometers to false signals provoked by uncontrolled temperature fluctuations in the substrate.

Citation Download Citation

Kory J. Priestley, J. Robert Mahan, Martial P.A. Haeffelin, Maxim Savransky, and Tai K. Nguyen "Thermistor bolometer radiometer signal contamination due to parasitic heat diffusion", Proc. SPIE 2583, Advanced and Next-Generation Satellites, (15 December 1995); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.228605

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available