I suppose this is more of a lab practice question than electronics per se, but I wonder if there's a standard-ish way to mount the K-type thermocouple that comes with my Fluke DMM so I can monitor the temperature of a power transistor and/or heatsink over time, hands-free?
I'm certainly open to a special-purpose thermocouple or other sensor that could be screwed or perhaps preferably clamped in place so I could follow the temperature changes without having to poke the little temperature probe tip in there each time I want to take a reading and wait the minute or so it takes to stabilize on the right temperature.
Is there something the pros do for this sort of thing?
Best Answer
Best way I think is thermal compound and glue it to the device, then just buy another thermal probe :) Short of that you can try and tape or clamp the flexible wire, I've had luck using a binder clip or some locking pliers like vice grips. Then curve it so the bend in the wire provides natural holding force onto the heat sink. That way what you're using to hold the probe doesn't affect the measurement. But really glue is the way to go.
For more pro use you can use thermal loggers that use slightly cheaper thermal couples, there are some nice ones that help you measure air flow at the same time.
That said for another project I just built a little wind tunnel and started using the bent wire approach so it's up to you how accurate you need to be.