Calorimeters and Techniques Used for Power Loss Measurements in Electrical Machines Part 29 in a Series of Tutorials on Instrumentation and Measurement

A quick reference guide to calorimeters for accurate power measurement is provided. The capability of calorimeters to directly measure heat loss has the potential for accurate power measurements not generally available from other techniques. The open calorimeter provides simple construction and installation, but it is necessary to measure the gas thermal contents with precision, this poses difficulties and requires specialist design considerations. The balanced calorimeter eases the requirements of measuring the flow rate and coolant properties but introduces a heater to repeat the calorimetric test, leading to more than doubling of the test duration. The series calorimeter uses two chambers and therefore approximately doubles the space and cost required. This approach is a refinement of the balanced calorimeter and significantly reduces the operational time.