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

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