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This closed loop zone control system regulates the forced air heating/cooling for a single room. It incorpo- rates a bi-directional serial interface (baud rate derived from the internal R/C oscillator), a PWM Damper con- trol and a 3-wire interface to an A/D which is connected to a thermistor temperature sensor.

The RS-232 interface operates using an emulated baud rate (software UART) like those found in the Appli- cation Notes. The communication protocol allows the user (at a PC) to set the desired temperature, high and low temperatures allowed (throttling range), and whether the system is in heating or cooling mode. It also allows the user to read the current room tempera- ture.

The 3-wire interface is to a simple A/D device that returns a logarithmic value of the current room temper- ature. The PIC12C508 converts this to a temperature value, then compares it with the desired temperature, maximum and minimum temperatures.

Depending on the system mode (heating or cooling) the PIC12C508 will open or close the forced air vent in the room.

The advantage to this system is that it allows discrete control of any room in the house without the need for an expensive central HVAC controller.

PWM
Out
to
Damper