Pressure cooker temperature controller

Date

4-2008

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics

College

College of Arts and Sciences (CAS)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Emmanuel A Florido

Abstract

A low cost microcontroller- and computer-based pressure cooker temperature controller was designed and developed. The instrument was constructed to determine and maintain the temperature inside the pressure cooker and output the results in a computer application and in a text file. A type T thermocouple was used to sense the temperature inside the retort. A microcontroller was used to convert the voltage output given by the thermocouples into digital representations and send them to the personal computer via RS-232 serial communication. The microcontroller unit also served as the controller of the electric heater coil to provide the heat in the system and of the solenoid valves used for the cooling of the retort. The computer application constructed served as the user interface for the device to set up the system and display the results of the process. The ADC calibration showed that the ADC used is linear through its computed r2 value, which is equal to one. On the other hand, the thermocouple calibration gave an average standard deviation of 0.89oC and an average percent error of 1.2% The results showed that the instrument was able to maintain the temperature inside the pressure cooker. On these tests, the time and temperature settings were varied to find out if the instrument is able to maintain the temperature for any given time within its range. Results gave an average of 3.4oC standard deviation and 3.1% average error. The intended application of the instrument is to record the retort temperature, a necessary value to assess if a certain thermal process is sufficient to sterilize canned foods, throughout the duration of the thermal process. The total cost spent on the production of a single unit is approximately twenty pesos, which is relatively more inexpensive than the previous instruments made.

Language

English

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section (USCS)

Call Number

Thesis

Document Type

Thesis

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