The 15th International Conference on Virtual Learning ICVL 2020 385

Heating and Ventilation System with Arduino and LabVIEW

Mihai Bogdan

Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Department,

Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, 550025, Romania,
E-Mail: mihai.bogdan[at]ulbsibiu.ro

Abstract
This system aims to control the heating and ventilation system of the home, using the LabVIEW
graphical programming environment. The system consists of a temperature sensor, 2 control circuits,
and the Arduino mega 2560 platform, which will control the entire system. The first control circuit is
used to start a fan for cooling the house, and the second control circuit is used to operate a relay of the
boiler for heating the house. This system works like a thermostat, so it will keep the house at the set
(desired) temperature.The temperature sensor measures the temperature inside the house and if the
temperature is lower than the set one, Arduino activates the boiler relay to start heating the house.
After reaching the set temperature, the heating of the house is stopped. The same thing happens if the
temperature of the room is higher than the set temperature, Arduino controls the fan to cool the room.
Keywords: LM 35 DZ, Cooling Fan, Arduino, LabVIEW, LINX.

1 Introduction
Home automation ensures increased comfort through various functions offered by automation,
such as: measuring and improving the air quality inside the home, adjusting the lighting according
to the light level, or automating the heating system so that the temperature is always right for the
user. A thermostat is a component of a control system which senses the temperature of a system so
that the system's temperature is maintained near a desired set point. The thermostat does this by
switching heating or cooling devices on or off or regulating the flow of a heat transfer fluid as
needed, to maintain the correct temperature. A thermostat can often be the main control unit for a
heating or cooling system, in applications ranging from ambient air control to automotive coolant
control. Thermostats are used in any device or system that heats or cools to a setpoint temperature,
examples include building heating, central heating, air conditioners, as well as kitchen equipment
including ovens and refrigerators and medical and scientific incubators
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Thermostat).
The system for controlling the heating and ventilation of a room, contains a temperature sensor
LM 35 DZ, a circuit for controlling the boiler relay and respectively a circuit for controlling the
fan.
The LM35 series is an integrated circuit for the temperature measurement. Corresponding to
each degree Celsius (°C) it gives 10 mV as output. It can sense temperature in the range of −55°C–
+150°C.
The temperature sensor is connected to the A0analog input of the Arduino mega 2560. The
control circuit of the ventilation system is connected to the 40-digital pin, of the Arduino mega
2560, and the control circuit of the boiler relay is connected to the 42digital pin number. To see if
the boiler relay is activated, we mounted an LED to indicate this (Figure 1).
386 University of Bucharest, Faculty of Matematics and Informatics

Figure 1.System Hardware Wiring Diagram

The resistance for limiting the current through the LED, we calculated it with the relation:

2 System Software Design

To create the interface between LabVIEW and Arduino, you need the following software:
 LabVIEW;
 NI VISA;
 VIPM;
 LINX
NI VISA - National Instruments Virtual Instrument Software Architecture is an API that
provides a programming interface to control Ethernet/LXI, GPIB, serial, USB, PXI, and VXI
instruments in National Instruments application development environments like LabVIEW, The
API is installed through the NI-VISA driver (https://www.ni.com/ro-
ro/support/documentation/supplemental/06/ni-visa-overview.html).
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VIPM - VI Package Manager reduces project costs by helping you implement a code reuse
process in your organization. VIPM makes it easy to manage and share reusable VIs across
multiple projects, computers, and teams of developers (http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/
view/p/lang/ro/nid/209002.
LINX - LabVIEW for X (LINX) is designed to replace LabVIEW Interfaces for Arduino and to
provide a LabVIEW generic protocol for the interface with any programmable device, but
specifically targeting Microcontrollers and SoCs (System on a Chip). LINX will provide a high
level of programming that allows users to communicate with several devices, including Arduino
(https://www.labviewmakerhub.com/).
After installing all the necessary software, the LabVIEW program will open, in which I will
make virtual instruments necessary for programming the Arduino MEGA 2560 boards, then select
Tools >>Makerhub>> LINX >> LINX Firmware wizard.

Figure 2.LINX Configuration

Represented in Figure 3 is the Front Panel of the VI. It contains the following controls and
indicators:
- a control (Serial Port) for setting the serial port to which Arduino is connected;
- a boolean control (Stop Program) to stop running the virtual instrument;
- a numerical control (LM35 Threshold) for setting the voltage level, from which the relay of
the boiler for heating the house or the fan for cooling the house is operated;
- a numerical indicator (LM35 Output Voltage) for displaying voltage values at the output of
the LM35 temperature sensor;
-two Boolean indicators (Boiler Relay and DC Fan) to indicate the status of the boiler relay and
DC fan.
388 University of Bucharest, Faculty of Matematics and Informatics

Figure 3. The Front Panel of the VI

The Block Diagram of VI contains the controls and indicators terminals of the Front Panel, the
various nodes, constants, and the wires. The nodes in LabVIEW are different functions, subVIs,
and programming structures (Bogdan, 2018).
In the block diagram, the following functions and programming structures were used:
 The Open Serial Function: this function opens a serial connection with the Arduino platform.
Each different program starts with the Open function.
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Figure 6. The Block Diagram of the VI

 The TMP35 Function: Read temperature from LM35 sensor.

 The Digital Write N Chan Function: Write the digital values (high or low) to the specified
digital output channel.

 The Close Function controls the end of the program. This function closes the connection to
the remote LINX device and free any local I/O resources. We must finish each different
program with Close function;

 The Build Array Function - this function adds the two boolean values to the
390 University of Bucharest, Faculty of Matematics and Informatics

input, in a two-element array, which will be applied to the input of the Digital Write N Chan
Function which will write these values to pins 40 and 42.

 The While Loop structure: that will continuously execute the functions inside it until
the conditions for termination are reached.

3 Conclusion
The two major heating and ventilation functions for a home, offer thermal comfort and
acceptable indoor air quality at reasonable installation, operation, and maintenance costs.
I opted to write the application code in LabVIEW Graphical Programming and not in a classic
text-based programming language.
The advantages of programming using the LabVIEW graphical programming language over
the classic text-based programming language are:
 It offers a multitude of libraries and virtual tools specific to programming embedded
systems;
 The graphical interface of the LabVIEW program is very friendly with the programmer;
 Higher productivity of graphic language compared to classical languages of programming;
 The LabVIEW language features interactive debugging tools.

References
Bogdan, M., (2019): „Monitoring and Alarming System for a Gas Central Heating Boiler”, Proceedings of the
14th International Conference on Virtual Learning (ICVL 2019), ISSN: 1844-8933 - ISI Proceedings, p.
325-331, OCTOBER 25-26, 2019
Bogdan M., (2018): „Gas Detector Using Arduino and LabVIEW”, Proceedings of the 13th International
Conference on Virtual Learning ICVL 2018, ISSN: 1844-8933, p. 315-318, October 26-27, 2018
https://playground.arduino.cc/Main/MQGas Sensors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Thermostat
https://www.ni.com/ro-ro/support/documentation/supplemental/06/ni-visa-overview.html
http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/ro/nid/209002
https://www.labviewmakerhub.com/