Abstract: The temperature reference equipment is an important part of a temperature measurement system with thermocouples, as most widely used in vacuum thermal tests. This paper analyzes the technical requirements for the temperature reference equipment, to serve as the basis for the structural design, the thermal design, and the process of electric assembling. An improvement scheme is proposed by optimizing its design based on the current version to simplify the operation and to reduce the risks in its use. A thermal analysis and an experimental validation show that this scheme can meet all technical requirements for the temperature reference equipment.