Low-cost intelligent educational laboratory temperature data acquisition and control device

Abstract

simple yet smart compact modular low-cost microcomputer input/output (I/O) laboratory appliance for signal converting and control of a temperature educational plant has been recently developed and assembled at the Faculty of Applied Informatics, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Czech Republic. In this paper, the motivation for this design decision and the description of the unit and its parts together with full electronic schemes are presented. The development of the new unit has been motivated i.a. by the fact that the currently used converter device for teaching experiments does not meet elementary safety and contemporary educational standards requirements. The designed appliance preserves some crucial features of the old one, and simultaneously brings new useful functions; namely, it is equipped with a four-line LCD panel and buttons which allow calibration the I/O channels with saving, and with RS232 interface for serial communication with PC. The significant advantage of the device is its price which is much lower than for similar commercial products and makes the unit easily reachable. A particular example of using the appliance in the educational process is also provided to the reader. Unit imperfections and ideas of its possible future enhancement conclude the paper. © 2015, North Atlantic University Union. All rights reserved.