Process seal with integrated thermal nodes (4.1 to 4.5) for determining temperature and self-diagnosis for connections of pipeline elements which have thermoelectric structures in one plane which are formed in a multiply unsymmetrically circular or part-circular manner and consist of a first thermal material (a) in an outer disc region of the sealing ring and a second thermal material (b) in an inner disc region of the sealing ring, wherein the thermoelectric structures form at least three thermopairs (T1...T5) with known temperature-voltage dependence, wherein - the first thermal material (a) and the second thermal material (b) form multiple thermal nodes, which are arranged in the circumferential direction of the sealing ring, wherein - electrical connection lines are led from the thermal nodes to a connection component at the outer edge of the sealing ring and from the latter to the outside and are electrically connected in parallel, series and/or differential connections, and produce combined thermoelectric voltage signals there, which are used for temperature measurement and/or error correction and/or self-diagnosis, characterized in that, from the outer disc region, connections of the thermal nodes (4.1, 4.2, 4.3), which are distributed in almost equal spacing from one another on a first half of the circumference of the inner disc region, are led to a connection point in the connection component, the inner disc region with the thermal material (b) is connected as a common thermoelectric conductor to a connection point in the connection component, from a further thermal node (4.4) a piece of conductor of the first thermal material (a) is led to a connection point in the connection component and, in a second half of the circumference of the inner disc region, a part of the outer disc region with a thermal node (4.5) opposite the further thermal node (4.4) is connected to a connection point in the connection component. - the first thermal material (a) and the second thermal material (b) form multiple thermal nodes, which are arranged in the circumferential direction of the sealing ring, wherein - electrical connection lines are led from the thermal nodes to a connection component at the outer edge of the sealing ring and from the latter to the outside and are electrically connected in parallel, series and/or differential connections, and produce combined thermoelectric voltage signals there, which are used for temperature measurement and/or error correction and/or self-diagnosis, characterized in that, from the outer disc region, connections of the thermal nodes (4.1, 4.2, 4.3), which are distributed in almost equal spacing from one another on a first half of the circumference of the inner disc region, are led to a connection point in the connection component, the inner disc region with the thermal material (b) is connected as a common thermoelectric conductor to a connection point in the connection component, from a further thermal node (4.4) a piece of conductor of the first thermal material (a) is led to a connection point in the connection component and, in a second half of the circumference of the inner disc region, a part of the outer disc region with a thermal node (4.5) opposite the further thermal node (4.4) is connected to a connection point in the connection component.