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Design of Heating System Controlled by Arduino

Conference Paper · November 2016

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©2016 Published in 4th International Symposium on Innovative Technologies in
Engineering and Science 3-5 November 2016 (ISITES2016 Alanya/Antalya - Turkey)

Design of Heating System Controlled by Arduino

*1Atilla Bayram, 1Sulaiman Abdullah Moammed and 1Fırat Kara

1
* Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yuzuncu Yil University, Turkey

Abstract

Temperature control of systems has become an important subject in all areas around us, especially, in
industrial areas at wide range of operating temperature. Another important field is the identification of
material characteristics. In this paper, a design of temperature controlled heating system is presented
for a tension-compression testing machine. The system involves basically an isolated box, dry
resistance, voltage regulator, thermocouple, air fun, microcontroller and computer. The temperature
inside the box is controlled by a feedback controller. This feedback control system measures the
temperature via a K-type thermocouple and uses a PID controller to compensate the errors. The
Arduino board is used as microcontroller because it is cheaper, simpler and easier to programme. In
this study, after doing some experiments, the user defined reference temperature profiles are
accomplished on the test machine and are compared with that of the mathematical modeling of the
heating system.

Key words: Heating system, Temperature control, PID, Arduino.

1. Introduction

The temperature control of a heating system is needed at many industrial fields such as food,
production and metal industries. Besides, the control at the wide temperature range is very
important in the science field. In literature, there are many studies on the temperature control of
buildings [1-2]. These studies involve the modeling and control of the systems approximately at
ambient temperature. They are related to the temperature control in the lower ranges. On the
other hand, the applications with higher working temperatures can be appeared on the studies
concerned some heating system such as ovens, furnaces etc. Ryckaert et al. present a paper on
improving the performance of an oven by some advanced control algorithms [3] while Srisertpol
et al. study electromagnetic ovens to heat the devices in the electronic manufacturing processes
[4]. In another study, a temperature control system of a steel heat furnace is designed based on a
model free control theory with PLC (Programmable Logic Control) control [5].

The dynamic behavior of a system should be derived for design and control of heating systems.
To define the system parameters, the different identification procedures are advised. For the
dynamic behavior, the process reaction curve is suggested to determine the parameters of the first
order model with the dead time [6]. This is a graphical method and very useful for experimental

*Corresponding author: Address: 1Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yuzuncu Yil
University, Turkey, 65040, Van TURKEY. E-mail address: atillabayram@yyu.edu.tr, Phone: +905373372942
 A. BAYRAM et al./ ISITES2016 Alanya/Antalya - Turkey 1584

studies. Bolat used this model for the temperature control of an oven with the different set point
chances in the real time [7]. Elmadssia et al. tried to stabilize the system by using PI controller
[8]. The system is modeled as a first order with the time delay which is a second order
approximation.

The main methods such as PID (Proportional Integral Derivative), neural network, fuzzy-logic
are presented for the temperature control of heating systems. PID controller is commonly used
due to its simplicity and efficiency. The researchers studied on a new type of PID controller
whose parameters are regulated automatically by fuzzy self-tuning [9]. In the industrial
processes, Ding et al. studied the programmable logic controller (PLC) which is an industrial
control computer for the temperature control [10]. The system has a PID based controller and
also has good stability, high reliability and broad application prospects.

For high efficient temperature control systems, microcontroller and feedback controller are
necessary. In this way, the desired temperature profiles can be achieved. As a new trend,
ARDUINO microcontroller is introduced for simple applications since it is cheaper, simpler and
easier to programme and it is also an open source microcontroller. Many researchers start to use
this device widely. For example, Krishnamurthi et al. used Arduino for recording and monitoring
real weather conditions such as temperature, humidity etc. in real time [11]. In another study, a
low-cost temperature acquisition for incubator system was presented based on the Arduino board.
A design of measurement and calibration system for K-type thermocouple was presented to study
the temperature measurements sensitively [12].

Generally, the mechanical characteristics of materials are defined with mechanical experiments
done at the ambient temperature. However, many applications concerned with heating processes
take place at higher temperature values. In this study, a temperature controlled heating system is
designed for a tension and compression testing machine. With this system designed, the
experiments can be done at user defined temperature profiles with higher temperatures, for
example, 400oC. The feedback system with PID controller can control the temperature by using
ARDUINO microcontroller. Firstly, the system has been modeled as a first order with time delay.
Then, the necessary system devices are assembled and the software is written on MATLAB to
control the system. With the experiments, the temperature control is performed successfully and
the desired results with the assigned coefficients of the controller are achieved compared to the
theoretical ones.

2. Description of the Setup

The scheme of the setup which allows carrying out the tension and compression tests at desired
temperature profile has been shown in Fig. 1. In this system, the heat source is a dry resistance
with a power of 2.5 kW. The inner temperature of the isolated box is adjusted by regulating the
voltage on the dry resistance. The resistance power can be regulated between 0-2.5 kW. Here, the
voltage adjustment is done by using 0-5 V DC input. The ELCON Power Regulator shown in
Fig. 2 is used to produce the desired AC voltage between %0 - %100 (0-220V) according the DC
supply generated via ARDUINO card used as a microcontroller. Arduino can control the AC
 A. BAYRAM et al./ ISITES2016 Alanya/Antalya - Turkey 1585

voltage with the output PWM signal which is between 0 – 5V DC. In this feedback temperature
control system, the inner temperature is measured as an output.

Figure 1. The scheme of temperature controlled heating system

The temperature measuring is done by a thermocouple type-K which produces analog signal at
microvolt level. However, Arduino can only read the minimum signal of 4.8 millivolt.
Therefore, the signal has to be amplified before the input of Arduino. For this aim, an amplifier
called MAX31855 is needed. This device also converts the analog signals to the digital ones. Fig.
3 shows the pictures of Ardunio and MAX31855 amplifier. The measurements are transferred to
a computer via a USB connection. With the user defined software, the controller produces the
necessary input and transfers the signal through serial ports called SPI (Serial Peripheral
Interface) communication from ARDUINO. The input signal is generated as DC Volt to the
ELCON regulator and the regulator generates the AC signal to the heater for the control of
temperature according to the desired temperature profile. In the mean while, when the rapid
temperature drop is needed, an air fan with 100W is used to decrease the temperature by pumping
the air at environment temperature into the box. Sometimes the natural cooling cannot produce
enough heat transfer for the desired temperature profile. The air fan is controlled by Arduino as
on-off.
 A. BAYRAM et al./ ISITES2016 Alanya/Antalya - Turkey 1586

Figure 2. Power Regulator

Figure 3. Arduino MEGA 2560 and MAX31855 Amplifier

3. System Modeling

Generally the heating systems are modeled as first order systems with delay time. In Laplace
domain, the transfer function between the reference temperature input and the measured
temperature at the inside of the box is given as follows.

K
G ( s)  T0  e s1 (1)
12 s

T0 : Ambient temperature
K : Static gain
 1 : Apparent time delay
 2 : Apparent time constant

The experiment with this system gives the temperature outputs for a step response. For this
recorded data set, the parameters can be calculated according to the graphical calculation of
process curve method as follows. The details about these calculations can be found in [6].
 A. BAYRAM et al./ ISITES2016 Alanya/Antalya - Turkey 1587

 1   2  t2
 1  66 seconds 
  (2)
 2  117 seconds   1  2  t1
3
K= 420 – 30 = 390 C o

With this parameter values calculated, the transfer function of the heating system is given in Eq
(3). The theoretical and the experimental data have been shown in Fig. 4.

390 105 s
G( s)  30.0  e (3)
1  183s

Step Response
450
Steady State
400

350
Experiment
Theorical
300
C )

% 63.2 of K
0

250
Temperature (

200

150
% 28.3 of K
100

50

t1=105 s t2=183 s
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Time (seconds)

Figure 4. The Theoretical and experimental data

In this research, PID controller is used to compensate the errors. The coefficients of PID (Kp, Ki,
Kd) are assigned by trial and error.

4. Experimental Results

The picture of the heating system is shown in Fig. 5 and this system will be assembled to the
tension-compression testing machine. The pistons of the testing machine run through the holes of
the isolated box and pull and compress the heated material sample at the core of the resistance.
The software running the system and connecting the experimental setup to the computer was
written in MATLAB. The coefficient of PID controller are assigned by trial and error as K p  80
, K I  0.2 and K D  40 with the convenient outputs. Several experiments have been performed
 A. BAYRAM et al./ ISITES2016 Alanya/Antalya - Turkey 1588

to study the performance of the heating system. In one of these experiments, the reference
temperature profile consists of some ramp and step inputs. After some successive increasing and
decreasing ramp inputs, the temperature of the inside of the box were kept at 200 0 C , 350 0 C
and 250 0 C respectively as shown in Fig. 6.

Figure 5. Experimental setup

In this figure, there are some oscillations on the output temperature because the measurement
device which is thermocouples is very sensitive to the noises and gives the very low voltage of
millivolt level. Any change of the voltage with the noise can be result in very high voltage input
for the input of Arduino via the MAX31855 amplifier. Also, there appeared a little time delay. In
addition to the reference input and experimental output, the output temperature from the
modeling is indicated in Fig. 6. This figure shows the compatibility between the theoretical and
experimental results. For this experiment, Fig. 7 shows the input DC voltage generated by
Arduino to actuate the heater.
 A. BAYRAM et al./ ISITES2016 Alanya/Antalya - Turkey 1589

400
Experiment
Reference
350 Modeling

300

250
Temperature 0C

200

150

100

50

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400
Time (s)

Figure 6. The temperature control

4.5

3.5
Voltage (V)

2.5

1.5

0.5

-0.5
0 500 1000 1500 2000
Time (s)

Figure 7. The input DC control voltage for the heater

4. Discussion and Conclusions

The main objective of this work is to create a thermal system to control heating process which
consists of some electrical and electronic devices. This system is used for a tension-compression
testing machine in the different type of temperature profiles. The experimental setup
demonstrates that the performance of the heating process is promising. Also, the experimental
outcomes can be fitted to that of the theoretical model pretty well. In this study, the temperature
can be measured quickly and successfully and the data can be easily transmitted and processed on
 A. BAYRAM et al./ ISITES2016 Alanya/Antalya - Turkey 1590

the computer via Arduino and MAX31855. However, although the noise on the thermocouple did
not create a significant problem, it should be taken into account for the data processing because
thermocouples are very sensitive to noise and the amplifier can strengthen this noise. Then, the
internal metal walls of the isolated box store the heat energy and thus it behaves as a disturbance.
In addition to these, the coefficients of PID controller should be adjusted adaptively for fine
tuning of the temperature. Nevertheless, conceivably accurate outcomes were obtained in spite of
these drawbacks.

The future work is focused on to design cooling system because it is very important in the
industrial process by using new application of science and technology such as liquid nitrogen to
cooling for very low temperature (cryogenic cooling system).

Acknowledgement

This research is funded by Yuzuncu Yil University Coordination Center of Scientific Research
Projects (BAP) for equipments and assembly, Project number: 2015-FBE-YL305.

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