Control Strategies of Heat Regulation in a Calorimeter

Title:  Control Strategies of Heat Regulation in a Calorimeter
Author: Isak Källsmyr
Date & Time: June 4th, 15:15-16:00
Location: Seminar Room M 3170-73 in the M-building, LTH
Supervisor: Bo Bernhardsson och Lars Wadsö
Examiner:  Anders Rantzer
 

Abstract:

The purpose of a calorimeter is to keep a stable internal temperature for a sample of some chemical compound, so that temperature-sensitive chemical processes can proceed undisturbed. However, there may be external disturbances to the calorimetric process, for instance changes in ambient temperature in the room where the calorimetric instrument is stored. A number of experiments have been run on the available calorimetric instrument of model I-Cal Flex, with temperature measured in various locations in the instrument over long periods of time, with different situations of internal and external temperaure changes. This includes both experiments when a PID controller was plugged in and when there was no regulation of the temperature control. Based on the data gathered from these experiments, a simulation program was written in Matlab to test different situations virtually and develop a better understanding of the heat flow process inside the instrument and the behavior of the system, both in cases when it is regulated and unregulated. Having identified the behavior of the calorimetric instrument and its heat flow system, a simple control strategy was developed including time delay steps.