Laboratory 3

Temperature and Pressure Control

Iván Camilo Holguín Perdomo
Faculty of Engineering
Universidad Autónoma de Occidente
Cali, Colombia
ivan.holguin@uao.edu.co
Kevin Armando Trujillo Terán
Faculty of Engineering
Universidad Autónoma de Occidente
Cali, Colombia
kevin_arm.trujillo@uao.edu.co
Miguel Steven Rondón Salazar
Faculty of Engineering
Universidad Autónoma de Occidente
Cali, Colombia
miguel.rondon@uao.edu.co

Abstract— The following report contains data about the

components used for this circuit like
OpAmps,temperature sensor and light to frequency
converter, as well as a detailed explanation of the stages
that were necessary to meet the design requirements
proposed in the laboratory guide. Finally, the process that
was carried out is shown. carried out as simulations,
calculations and conclusions of the circuit. Fig 1. Sensor MPX
(Tomado de https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.jpg)
Keywords- . Components, steps, simulations, opAmps,
Temperature Sensor, light to frequency converter.
Sensor LM35
I. INTRODUCTION
"The LM35 is a linear temperature sensor that can
Control systems today are very important for large measure temperatures from -55 to +150 degrees Celsius,
companies and corporations, so high efficiency so it has applicability for different environments, and
monitoring and an accessible maintenance cost is needed, thanks to its dimensions it can be installed almost
mainly to ensure good operation in the facilities where anywhere. The LM35's voltage output setting is
they are to be used. store liquids normally for human proportional to its input, and for each temperature value it
consumption, then ideally to maintain a stable level of increases or decreases by 10 mV. The LM35 can work
storage, for this reason a system has been proposed in with a continuous power supply from 5V to 20V, and the
which a signal from a pressure sensor must be acquired, standby current is less than 60uA. " [2]
which must be maintained at 150 kPa for the oil , and in
the same way the temperature must be kept at 40 ° C, all
this must allow alarms to be activated if they go outside
the allowed and established ranges. A set of stages were
carried out with which the operation is ensured and
achieving the objective from the implementation and
analysis of the problem.

II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

MPX4250 Sensor
Fig 2. LM35 (Tomado de https://saber.patagoniatec.com)
“The MPX4250 piezoresistive transducer series consists
VCO
of monolithic silicon sensors that measure air pressure,
designed for a wide variety of applications, but especially
It is a voltage-controlled oscillator circuit, which
those that employ microprocessors or microcontrollers
generates a waveform whose frequency depends on the
with A / D inputs. It provides a high level analog voltage
voltage of a control signal. Based on triangular core
output that is proportional to the applied pressure. " [1]
oscillators, it is where the sawtooth and square signals are
The sensitivity of the sensor is 18.8 mV / kPa having a
obtained, transforming it from the triangular wave, so its
voltage of 0.2 V to 4.9 V at its output and it operates at a
frequency is always twice that.
supply voltage of 4.85 V to 5.35 V.
In their application, they are the primary source of sound
for analog synthesizers, and they generate signals that are
subsequently processed by other modules to give them III. PROCESS
the color (or timbre) and the desired temporal evolution.
[3] (VCO | B&C, 2017)

Converter LM2907

“The LM2907 are monolithic frequency-to-voltage

converters with a high-gain comparator op amp, designed
to operate a relay, lamp, or other load when the input
frequency reaches or exceeds a selected rate. Being used
in speed detection, speed regulators, crossing control,
door lock control, tactile or sound switches, among
others. " [4]

Fig 5. Block diagram, system. (Made: Lucidchart).

First Stage (LM35 and VCO Conditioning)

To carry out the first stage, an LM35 was taken which

Fig 3. Conversor LM2907
(Tomado de https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zoe7d.png)
delivers 10 mv / c °. The reference temperature is 40 ° C,
therefore the reference voltage is 400 mV. It is necessary
to perform an instrumentation amplifier, it was
implemented using 3 operational amplifiers:

FET (2N3918)

“It is a transistor that uses the electric field to control the

shape and, therefore, the conductivity of a channel that
carries a single type of charge carrier, which is why it is
also often known as a unipolar transistor. It is a
semiconductor that has three terminals, called gate
(represented by G), drain (D) and source (S). The gate is
the terminal equivalent to the base of the bipolar junction Fig 6. Instrumentation Amplifier Circuit. (Made: Proteus)..
transistor (BJT), from whose operation it differs, since in
the FET, the voltage applied between the gate and the The gain is determined as follows, taking into account
source controls the current that circulates in the drain. " that R22 and R20 are equal and R21 is RG:
[5]
𝐴𝑣 = 1 + 2 * 𝑅/𝑅𝐺
This determines that the gain of the instrumentation
amplifier is 8. The new reference voltage at 40 ° is Vref =
400 mV * 8 = 3.2 V

The voltages delivered by the amplifier enter the VCO,

Fig 4. Transistor FET 2N3918
(Taken from https://www.electronicoscaldas.com)
which will not take the amplitude as a reference but the
shape (sine wave, triangle wave, sawtooth) but rather its
instantaneous phase. The instantaneous frequency of a
VCO is often modeled as a linear relationship with its
instantaneous control voltage. The input voltage will go
to the first operational amplifier that functions as an
integrator, which, in conjunction with the alteration of the
charge rate of a capacitor by means of a current source
that in turn is controlled by voltage, for which U12 You
will have a triangular sign at your exit.
As long as U17 works like a Schmitt trigger which will
generate the square signal, so if the input voltage is above
the threshold level, then it outputs Vcc at its output and if
the input falls below the threshold level, the output
becomes zero ; The associated equations in terms of the
phase would be:
Fig 7. Phase equations
Fig 8. VCO circuit. (Made: Proteus).
Fig 9. VCO Circuit Output at 40 ° C Temperature. (Made:
Proteus).
Third Stage (Temperature Alarms)
It is required to activate a visual alarm when the
temperature is above 40 ° C and another when it is below
40 ° C. To achieve this, a frequency to voltage converter
circuit was implemented using an LM2907 which allows
obtaining a DC voltage when a periodic signal with a
stable frequency is input.
Obtaining a DC voltage corresponding to each frequency
from the VCO, it is possible to implement alarms that
indicate high or low temperature, this was possible by
establishing a hysteresis of 2 ° C of temperature to avoid
sensor reading errors, with the help of the LM2907
converter which includes in its internal circuit a voltage
comparator at the input with a hysteresis function, a
charge pump as a voltage frequency converter and an
operational amplifier with an output transistor.
Fig 10. DC Voltage to Frequency Converter Circuit. (Made:
Proteus).
In our configuration we can observe that the input signal
enters the non-inverting terminal of the main operational
amplifier which will trigger the charge pump every time
the signal exceeds 0 V. This trigger will activate a current
source that will provide a current out of pin 2, in this way
the voltage on pin 2 will evolve between two values that
are approximately (¼) Vcc and (¾) Vcc according to its
datasheet, on the other hand C8 that is in parallel with the
RV3 potentiometer configures the low pass that performs
the integration of the current to obtain its average value.
For this reason it does not intervene in the equation of
scale of the conversion. This will enter the non-inverting
of the second operational that finally connects to an
output transistor that establishes an output current, at the
end on pin 4 we will have a DC voltage with small output
curls, which is corrected by means of a capacitor coupled
to the outlet.
The approximate tension (because we know it has a few
small curls) is amplified by a non-inverting configuration
with gain 8.
Fig 11.Amplifier Circuit. (Made: Proteus).
This gain allowed us to obtain a higher voltage to
establish the comparison voltages for the temperature
alarms. The output voltage of the converter amplified by
a factor of 8 for 40 ° C is approximately 6.88951 VDC,
that is to say, at this temperature no alarm should be
activated.

When the temperature exceeds 40 ° C (Taking into

account the hysteresis of 2 ° C), the L5 bulb must light
from 42 ° C or from approximately 6.9 VDC. Otherwise,
when the temperature is lower than 38 ° C or 6.4 VDC,
the L4 bulb should turn on and L5 should be off. The
operation described above was designed taking the
voltages delivered as a reference for the comparators. The
alarms were implemented using Relays, which allowed Fig 13. Final comparator, Record. (Made: Proteus).
the coupling of the DC voltage with the AC circuit. The triangular signal that comes from the VCO, enters
the non-inverting input of U21, the DC voltage delivered
by the MPX to the inverter. The comparison is illustrated
in the following figure:

Fig 12. Temperature Alarm Comparators. (Made: Proteus).

Thus, it was possible to establish the alarms that indicate

an increase or decrease in the tank temperature.

Second Stage (Conditioning of MPX4250DP and Fig 14. Final comparator, Record. (Made: Proteus).
Pressure Alarms) If the pressure varies from its reference point, at the
In addition to having control over the temperature, it is comparator output it could be observed that the duty
essential to control the pressure inside the tank, since cycle varies. When the temperature varies, in the output
with it the level is controlled. The optimum level is of the comparator it is reflected in a variation of
obtained when the pressure is 150 Kpa, taking into frequency.
account that the MPX4250DP has a sensitivity of 0.01888
V / Kpa, for this pressure a voltage of 3.02962 was Total cost quote listing
obtained. Taking this value as a reference, they were
COMPONENTS QUANTITY UNIT PRICE NET PRICE
designed as comparators to set high and low pressure
alarms. The process was similar to the previous one, LM2907 Converter 1 $ 3.927,00 $ 3.927,00
taking into account that the comparison stresses are MPX4250 Sensor 1 $ 42.422,00 $ 42.422,00
different. High pressure (taking into account a hysteresis
LM35 Sensor 1 $ 5.617,00 $ 5.617,00
of 4 Kpa) at 154 Kpa, presents an approximate voltage of
3.08 VDC. Similarly, when the pressure is low near 146 2N3819 Transistor 1 $ 5.351,00 $ 5.351,00
Kpa, a voltage of approximately 2.99 VDC is obtained. Resistors 60 $ 50,00 $ 3.000,00
When these thresholds are exceeded, the respective
alarms will be activated. Amplifiers 741 20 $ 1.000,00 $ 20.000,00
Relays 4 $ 875,00 $ 3.500,00
Light bulbs 4 $ 4.000,00 $ 16.000,00
Fourth Stage (Comparator)
Finally, in order to obtain a record of both the Terminal blocks 4 $ 2.000,00 $ 8.000,00
temperature and the pressure in the tank, an open loop Total 96 $ 65.242,00 $ 107.817,00
comparator was implemented using an LM741 as shown
in the following illustration: TABLE 1. COMPONENT COSTS
PCB layout
Based on the component design, a board corresponding to
the main circuit and another board corresponding to a +
-15V power supply was made that will enable the
operation of the first one, in addition a design was
established in the grid-style dissipation layer, the
Rhomboid grating allows heat dissipation through the
board in a more efficient and symmetrical way as shown
below.
Fig 15. ISIS layout
Fig 16. 3D View
IV. CONCLUSIONS
Pressure and temperature sensors, being devices that are
exposed to physical variables, their output shows
variations. To counteract these effects, temperature and
pressure hysteresis were established; thus it was possible
to avoid that the alarms were turned on or off at
insignificant changes in the reading of the devices. The
correction we are going to obtain is a much more stable
system.
Regarding the VCO, it is important to take into account
that it generates certain noise due to the generation of a
phase determined by the input voltage that is corrupted in
the closed loop when it is blocked by the discharge of the
capacitor, consequently this oscillation was filtered by the
bandwidth of the loop and increases if the input voltage is
unstable.
It is a detail to take into account for the applied
configuration, but in the same way its efficiency stands
out when generating basic signals such as triangular, sine,
square and sawtooth, likewise we find through the
investigation that in many In cases this block is the main
one for telecommunications applications and control
circuits and is the cause of the higher power consumption
as it was in our circuit.
The implementation of the final laboratory was carried
out thanks to the efficient development of each circuit
and analyzing the possible failures, always trying to solve
the inconveniences as future engineers based on the
knowledge learned throughout the course and that
through this last implementation it is possible to verify
the understanding of the same, reaching the final
conclusion that the objective was achieved thanks to all
the factors mentioned above.
V. REFERENCES
[1] IMU..., "Sensor de presión MPX4250DP",
Electrónicos Caldas, 2017. [Online]. Available:
https://www.electronicoscaldas.com/es/sensores-de-presi
on/119-sensor-de-presion-mpx4250dp.html. [Accessed:
01- Dec- 2020].
[2] "Sensor LM35: ¿Que es?, ¿Cómo
funciona?Características - Actualidad Tecnológica",
Actualidad Tecnológica, 2020. [Online]. Available:
https://actualidadtecnologica.com/lm35/. [Accessed: 01-
Dec- 2020].
[3] "VCO", B&C, 2020. [Online]. Available:
http://www.bleepsandchips.com/vco. [Accessed: 02- Dec-
2020].
[4] "Conversor De Frecuencia A Voltaje LM2907",
VISTRONICA S.A.S, 2014. [Online]. Available:
https://www.vistronica.com/es/modulos/conversor-de-frec
uencia-a-voltaje-lm2907-detail.html?product_rewrite=co
nversor-de-frecuencia-a-voltaje-lm2907. [Accessed: 02-
Dec- 2020].
[5] "Transistor de efecto campo", Wikipedia, 2018.
[Online]. Available:
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_de_efecto_camp
o. [Accessed: 03- Dec- 2020].