Experiments on temperature regulation using a Peltier element and PID technique

Abstract

An experiment on temperature regulation was prepared and is regularly conducted in a laboratory course on electronic at the faculty level. The experiment demonstrates the use, problems and solutions with feedback introduced for temperature regulation. The plans for hardware and complete software to run the experiment are freely available at author's web page. The hardware consists of easily obtainable and cheap components. Temperatures are measured by widely used semiconductor thermometer chips DS18B20 and results are presented on a PC connected to the experiment. The experiment with heating and cooling can be implemented already at a secondary school level, but the theory behind the experiment requires better understanding of mathematics (differential equations) available at faculty level. The experiment is complemented with software simulation to be used in lectures.