Temperature Control Program

The temperature control program is a LabView VI, which checks and regulates the temperature of the Fiber Heating Box. Once the program is initiated it will turn on the hotplate in the heating box and keep it on until either the temperature climbs too high or a user has indicated a stop or stop condition. The program outputs commands to a netbooter, which is the hotplate's voltage source, and reads inputs from thermistors through a DAQ.

The front panel displays a waveform chart, which will display each temperature measurement, digital temperature and time displays, and various controls to set parameters.

Instructions for a Heating Run
In order to perform a heating run there are a number of parameters, which can be found of the front panel that must be set properly. The conditions for a normal run are listed below:

Samples/Channel: 1 is sufficient here, increase for more data points. Rate: 1 is sufficient here, increase for more data points. Sample Mode: FiniteSamples Save your file?: Pressed if you want to save the run, unpressed if you don't. STOP: Must be unpressed at program start. Control Manually: Automatic Target Temperature: 175 Timed Heater Turn off: any desired time. (in seconds) Start Timer: On to start timer when the program starts, off otherwise.

Once all of these are set appropriately the run can begin.

Note that the program will shut the hotplate off for the rest of the run if the highest temperature passes 190 degrees Fahrenheit

Program logic
The overarching logic behind the program is to turn the hotplate off when the box is too hot and on when it is too cold. All of the code is contained in a sequence structure consisting of two frames. The first frame contains nearly all of the code and is what drives all operating functions, the second frame contains a sub VI, which shuts off the netbooter (and therefore the hotplate).