2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Data Acquisition System to Measure and Monitor Temperatures and Atmospheric Air Parameters

Presented at Learning through Instrumentation: Experiences and Applications

The optimization and performance of many systems require data collection for the temperature variation of solids, liquids, and air parameters that vary from one location to another. For example, monitoring the performance of an Atmospheric Water Generator Device that utilizes geothermal heat rejection to condense vapor in the humid air. This device requires air parameters, water temperatures, and soil temperature variation to be measured to understand the system. This paper presents a capstone project that involved the design and implementation of an inexpensive data acquisition system that utilizes off-the-shelf components. Twelve parameters are collected: air inlet and outlet temperatures and humidity, water inlet and outlet temperatures, and soil temperature from two to eight feet at one-foot increments. The Raspberry Pi 4 with MCP-9600 chips, which runs on the I2C protocol, was used in this project. The I2C works by using an address system that allows the Raspberry Pi to distinguish between multiple sensors. The sensors, setup, circuitry, and code details are presented here. The system's performance, possible improvements, and the educational experience of an international capstone are also discussed.

Authors

David N. Long James Madison University [biography]

David N. Long is a recent graduate of James Madison University’s, Integrated Science and Technology program. David studied energy and production systems where he worked on the Water Out Of Thin Air project. The aim of the project was to provide clean water with low energy inputs. David concentrated on the Data Collection System which was designed and built to record the key parameters of the project in Costa Rica.
Dr. Karim Altaii James Madison University [biography]

Dr. Altaii holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, and received his doctorate from The City University of New York. He is a professor in the College of Integrated Science and Engineering (CISE) at James Madison University. He is a registered Professional Engineer and holds five patents in solar energy applications and irrigation system. He is the director of CISE Energy and Environmental Projects- an international summer program in Costa Rica. He is the Director of the Advanced Thermal-Fluids laboratory. His primary interests are in renewable energy applications, fluid-thermal sciences, and international education.

Download paper (1.72 MB)

Are you a researcher? Would you like to cite this paper? Visit the ASEE document repository at peer.asee.org for more tools and easy citations.

» Download paper

« View session

For those interested in:

computer science
engineering
engineering technology