Automatic temperature and flow rate controller for a laboratory dryer

Date

3-2008

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics

College

College of Arts and Sciences (CAS)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Emmanuel A Florido

Abstract

A prototype laboratory dryer with an automated temperature and flow rate controller was designed, constructed, calibrated and tested. A thermocouple was used as a sensor for the temperature controller. A Visual Basic(TM) code was programmed to control the microcontroller which sends commands to the temperature and flow rate controllers to operate according to the desired temperature and flow rate of the system. The maximum temperature that the dryer can attain is 90°C but it will take about 30 minutes at most depending on the set flow rate to reach the maximum temperature. On the other hand, the range of the flow rate is low (220 Its to 271 Its), medium (267 Its to 339 Its) and high (286 Its to 385 Its). This dryer was tested on drying rice grains. The stability of the temperature in the system was also observed 30 seconds after the target temperature was reached. Different rice grains samples were dried using different settings of the laboratory dryer. It was found out that the dryer can dry a 50-gram rice grain sample in less than an hour. The rice grains dried fastest at 80°C temperature and high air flow rate setting. The rice grains dried faster using the prototype dryer compared to sun drying which could take about a day according to farmers.

Language

English

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section (USCS)

Call Number

Thesis

Document Type

Thesis

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