Developing A Low-Cost Temperature Controller Using A Raspberry Pi Microcontroller

Garrett Buchmann

School Name

Governor's School for Science and Math

Grade Level

12th Grade

Presentation Topic

Engineering

Presentation Type

Mentored

Mentor

Mentor: Dr. Lauterbach; Department of Chemical Engineering, University of South Carolina

Oral Presentation Award

5th Place

Abstract

Most lab grade temperature controllers cost hundreds of dollars, while this project resulted in a design with the same capabilities and accuracy that can be built for less than one hundred. This project used the Raspberry Pi, a low cost, credit card-sized computer that was created by a nonprofit organization in the United Kingdom to help teach people around the world about computer science and electronics, to design a replicable temperature controller for controlling lab oil baths. Both the hardware and software for the controller were designed during this project. Raspberry Pi uses a Linux-based operating system, and the script for the actual controller functions was written in Python using the IDLE development environment. A Raspberry Pi unit was used for the computer processes, while a Texas Instruments temperature relay and thermocouple were used to measure and interpret the temperature of the oil bath. The controller designed in this project was able to maintain a temperature with a 1-degree Celsius oscillation about the set temperature, which is equal to the precision of the commercial controller, and was also able to function effectively at the complete temperature range of the commercial controller. The results of this testing show that the Raspberry Pi controller designed in this project can provide the same functionality as the commercial controller, and can be produced at less than one third of the cost.

Location

Owens G07

Start Date

4-16-2016 9:00 AM

COinS
 
Apr 16th, 9:00 AM

Developing A Low-Cost Temperature Controller Using A Raspberry Pi Microcontroller

Owens G07

Most lab grade temperature controllers cost hundreds of dollars, while this project resulted in a design with the same capabilities and accuracy that can be built for less than one hundred. This project used the Raspberry Pi, a low cost, credit card-sized computer that was created by a nonprofit organization in the United Kingdom to help teach people around the world about computer science and electronics, to design a replicable temperature controller for controlling lab oil baths. Both the hardware and software for the controller were designed during this project. Raspberry Pi uses a Linux-based operating system, and the script for the actual controller functions was written in Python using the IDLE development environment. A Raspberry Pi unit was used for the computer processes, while a Texas Instruments temperature relay and thermocouple were used to measure and interpret the temperature of the oil bath. The controller designed in this project was able to maintain a temperature with a 1-degree Celsius oscillation about the set temperature, which is equal to the precision of the commercial controller, and was also able to function effectively at the complete temperature range of the commercial controller. The results of this testing show that the Raspberry Pi controller designed in this project can provide the same functionality as the commercial controller, and can be produced at less than one third of the cost.