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Design of Non-Contact Infra-Red Thermometer Based on the Sensor of

MLX90614

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DOI: 10.2174/1874444301507010008

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8 The Open Automation and Control Systems Journal, 2015, 7, 8-20

Open Access
Design of Non-Contact Infra-Red Thermometer Based on the Sensor of
MLX90614

Gang Jin1,*, Xiangyu Zhang2, Wenqiang Fan1, Yunxue Liu1 and Pengfei He1

1
Institute of Optical-electronic Engineering, Yantai University, Yantai, Shandong, China
2
Tianjin Huaning Electronics Co., Ltd. Tianjin, China

Abstract: Liquid identification becomes more and more important in the safety inspection at the subway, airport, and
railway. Non-contact liquid security identification is the best way, because it can avoid the contamination of the liquids
and the injuries caused by some corrosive and toxic liquids. The paper designed the non-contact Infra-Red thermometer
based on the sensor of MLX90614 and the most favored microprocessor STM32F107 for the non-contact liquid security
identification system. Completed the hardware circuit, made the PCB plate, programmed the software with Keil C and de-
bugged by Keil uVision4 MDK V4.22. Then, studied the effects by measuring the temperature differences using bottles
with various shapes, materials, sizes and wall thickness at different distances. The system meets the requirements of high
reliability, low costs, low power consumption, real time response and the demands of the non-contact liquid security iden-
tification system.

Keywords: Digital sensors, Infra-Red thermometer, MLX90614, Safety inspection, STM32F107.

1. INTRODUCTION
Liquid identification becomes more and more important
in the safety inspection at the subway, airport, ferry, rail-
way, and so on. Non-contact liquid security identification
is the best way because it can avoid the contamination of
the liquids and the injuries caused by some corrosive and
toxic liquids. It can also speed up the identification. Yet the
accuracy of the non-contact liquid security identification is
affected by the temperature and it is important to measure
the temperature of the liquid when identified with micro-
wave equipment.
There are many ways to measure the temperature of ob-
jects. The temperature measurement can be mainly divided
into contact measurement and non-contact measurement.
We choose the non-contact method based on the infrared
technology [1] to measure the temperature for the liquid in
the bottle, especially in cases of fast, accurate, and closed
bottles.
This paper designs the non-contact Infra-Red thermom-
eter based on the sensor of MLX90614 and the most fa-
vored microprocessor STM32F107, and studies the hard-
ware construction and the software design in details. This
software is programmed with Keil C and debugged by Keil
uVision4 MDK V4.22, and studies the effect of the tem-
perature on different bottles with different shapes and ma-
terials. Also, it corrects the results of the measured temper-
ature. It meets the requirements of high real-time, reliable,
*Address correspondence to this author at the Qingquan Road, Yantai,
Shandong, China. Postcode: 264005; Tel: 08613780951616;
E-mail: jingang107@126.com
low cost and low power consumption. The system works
efficiently.
2. HARDWARE DESIGN
2.1. Structure of the Non-Contact Infra-Red Thermome-
ter
The temperature measurement system mainly acquires
the temperature of liquids and stores the temperature data
into flash memory for system use, and can display the data
on LCD. The user can also set the upper and lower limits
by keys module. The system gives the audio-light alarm if
it goes beyond the limits. Structure diagram of temperature
measurement system is shown in Fig. (1).
2.2. Microprocessor STM32F107
The microprocessor is the central processing unit of the
temperature measurement system. STM32F107 is a kind of
ARM Cortex™-M3 RISC [2] 32-bit processor with pro-
duced by STMicroelectronics. The maximum frequency of
the processor can reach up to 72 MHz and the flash
memory is 64 to 256 Kbytes [3]. It has high integration
level, high-performance and low power consumption.
Structure diagram of STM32F107 connectivity line
LQFP100 pin out is shown as Fig. (2).
2.3 Digital Thermometer MLX90614
The MLX90614 is an Infra-Red thermometer for non-
contact temperature measurements which is manufactured by
Melexis.

1874-4443/15 2015 Bentham Open

Design of Non-contact Infra-Red Thermometer The Open Automation and Control Systems Journal, 2015, Volume 7 9

MLX90614 Keys Module

STM32F107

Flash RAM LCD1602

Audio-Light
Alarm
Fig. (1). Structure diagram of temperature measurement system.

BOOT0
VDD_3
VSS_3

PA15
PA14
PC10
PC11
PC12
PD0
PD7

PD4
PD3
PD2
PD1
PD6
PB9
PB8
PB7
PB6
PB5
PB4
PB3

PD5
PE0
PE1
100

91
90
89
88
87
86
85
84
99
98
97
96
95
94
93
92

83
82
81
80
79
78
77
76
PE2 1 75 VDD_2
PE3 2 74 VSS_2
PE4 3 73 NC
PE5 4 72 PA13
PE6 5 71 PA12
VBAT 6 70 PA11
PC13-TAMPER-RTC 7 69 PA10
PC14-OSC32-IN 8 68 PA9
PC15-OSC32-OUT 9 67 PA8
VSS_5 10 STM32F107 66 PC9
VDD_5 11 65 PC8
OSC_IN 12 64 PC7
OSC_OUT 13 LQFP100 63 PC6
NRST 14 62 PD15
PC0 15 61 PD14
PC1 16 60 PD13
PC2 17 59 PD12
PC3 18 58 PD11
VSSA 19 57 PD10
VREF- 20 56 PD9
VREF+ 21 55 PD8
VDDA 22 54 PB15
PA0-WKUP 23 53 PB14
PA1 24 52 PB13
PA2 25 51 PB12
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33

42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41

VDD_1
Vss_1
PA3

PA5
PA6
PA7
PA4
VDD_4

PC4
PC5
PB0
PB1

PB10
PB11
VSS_4

PB2

PE10
PE11
PE12
PE13
PE14
PE15
PE7
PE8
PE9

Fig. (2). Structure diagram of STM32F107 connectivity line LQFP100 pin out.

Due to its low noise amplifier, 17-bit ADC and powerful

DSP unit, a high accuracy and resolution of the thermometer
is achieved. The thermometer used is factory calibrated with
a digital PWM and SMBus (System Management Bus) out-
put. As a standard, the 10-bit PWM is configured to continu-
ously transmit the measured temperature in the range of -20 2-PWM/SDA 1-SCL/ Vz
to 120 ˚C with an output resolution of 0.14 °C [4].
3-VDD 4-VSS
Pin function of MLX90614 is shown as Table 1, and pin
description is shown as Fig. (3).
In normal mode the measured object temperature is
available at pin 2 with Pulse Width Modulated. And in
SMBus [5] compatible mode is automatically configured as
open drain NMOS. Fig. (3). Pin description of MLX90614 (Top view).
10 The Open Automation and Control Systems Journal, 2015, Volume 7 Jin et al.

Table 1. Pin functions of MLX90614.

Pin Name Pin Function

1 SCL Serial Clock Input

2 PWM/SDA Data In/Out

3 VDD External Supply Voltage

4 VSS Ground

VCC VCC

STM32F107 4.7k MLX90614

78 4.7k 1 SCL
PC10
79 2 SDA
PC11
VCC 3
VDD
0.1μF 4
VSS

Fig. (4). Structure diagram of STM32F107 and MLX90614 connection.

Table 2. Pin function of LCD1602.

Pin Name Pin Function

1 VSS GND

2 VDD Power Supply Voltage

3 VO Contrast Adjust

4 RS Register Select

5 R/W Read/Write

6 E Enable Signal

7~14 DB0~DB7 Data Bit 0~7

15 A+ Backlight Positive Pole

16 K- Backlight Negative Pole

The structure diagram of STM32F107 and MLX90614 The VO pin connects a 10K variable resistor as contrast
connection is shown as Fig. (4). adjusts. A+ connects +3.3V as backlight positive of power
supply and K- connects GND as backlight cathode of power
2.4. Displayer Module supply.

Displayer module can display the temperature data of the

object. LCD1602 is a kind of display which can display 16*2
characters with low power consumption. Pin function of
LCD1602 is shown as Table 2.
The structure diagram of STM32F107 and LCD1602
connection is shown in Fig. (5).
2.5. Keys Module
Six keys module is designed as a part of a friendly hu-
man-machine interaction interface. The definitions of keys
are shown as Table 3. Key 1 together with Key 2 ~ Key 3
can set the up/down limits of alarm value.
Design of Non-contact Infra-Red Thermometer The Open Automation and Control Systems Journal, 2015, Volume 7 11

STM32F107 LCD1602
65 4
PC8 RS
64 5
PC7 R/W
63 6
PC6 E
PA0 23~32 7~14 DB0
~ ~
PA7 DB7

Fig. (5). Structure diagram of STM32F107 and LCD1602 connection.

Table 3. Key definitions.

Key Name Definition

1 Set Set Temperature Alarm Value Limit

2 Shift A Circular Left Shift

3 Increase The Value Plus One

4 Measure Start the Measurement

5 Cancel Cancel the Modified Data Before

6 OK Acknowledgement Key

STM32F107
47
PB10
48
PB11
51
PB12
1 2 3
52
PB13
4 5 6
53
PB14

Fig. (6). Structure diagram of key module.

These six keys are organized as a 2 by 3 matrix with 5 ured value goes beyond the limits. It uses the DC power and
ports of STM32107. The structure diagram of key module is the battery power to ensure the reliability. The system can
shown in Fig. (6). also work in sleep mode to reduce power consumption.

2.6. Other Modules 3. SOFTWARE DESIGN

The non-contact Infra-Red thermometer module uses the
4GB flash memory K9LBG08U0M made by Samsung for 3.1. The Transport Protocols of MLX90614
data storage. The audio-light alarm system is configured The MLX90614 measures and calculates the temperature
with a beeper and red LED. The alarm sets off if the meas- of the object and provides the results through the PWM out-
12 The Open Automation and Control Systems Journal, 2015, Volume 7 Jin et al.

S Slave Address Wr A Data Byte A P

S Start Condition
Wr Write(bit value of 0)
A Acknowledge (can be 0 for ACK and 1 for NACK)
P Stop Condition
Slave-to-Master
Master-to-Slave

Fig. (7). SMBus packet element key.

1 7 1 1 8 1 1 7 1 1
Slave Slave
S Wr A Command A Sr Rd A
Address Address
8 1 8 1 8 1 1
Data Byte Data Byte
A A PEC A P
Low High

(a) SMBus Read Word Format

1 7 1 1 8 1
Slave
S S Wr A Command A
Address

8 1 8 1 8 1 1
Data Byte Data Byte
A A PEC A P
Low High

(b) SMBus Write Word Format

S Start Condition P Stop Condition

Sr Repeated Start Condition PEC Packet Error Code
Rd Read(bit value of 1) Master-to-Slave
Wr Write(bit value of 0) Slave-to-Master
A Acknowledge

Fig. (8). SMBus read/write word format.

put or the SMBus interface which are built with pins
PWM/SDA and SCL [6]. The paper uses the SMBus proto-
col.
The SMBus interface is a 2-wire protocol, allowing
communication between the Master Device (MD) and one or
more Slave Devices (SD). At a given time, only one master
device can be present and the MLX90614 can only be used
as a slave device.
SMBus packet element key is shown as Fig. (7).
SMBus read/write word format is shown as Fig. (8).
The flow charts of SMBus Write/Read Word is shown in
Fig. (9).
The flow charts of temperature measurement by
MLX90614 is shown as Fig. (10).
Design of Non-contact Infra-Red Thermometer The Open Automation and Control Systems Journal, 2015, Volume 7 13

Start

N
Acknowledged?
Send ‘S’
Y
Send ‘SlaveAddress&Wr’ Send ‘DataLow’

N N
Acknowledged? Acknowledged?

Y Y

Send ‘Command’ Send ‘PEC’

N N
Acknowledged? Acknowledged?

Y Y

Send ‘DataHigh’ Return

(a) SMBus Write Word

Start

Send ‘S’ Receive ‘DataLow’

Send ‘SlaveAddress&Wr’ Send ‘A’

N
Acknowledged? Receive ‘DataHigh’

Send ‘Command’ Send ‘A’

N
Acknowledged? Receive ‘PEC’

Send ‘Sr’ Send ‘A’

N
Acknowledged? Return

Send ‘SlaveAddress&Rd’

N
Acknowledged?

(b) SMBus Read Word

Fig. (9). The flow charts of SMBus write/read word.
14 The Open Automation and Control Systems Journal, 2015, Volume 7 Jin et al.

Start

MLX90614 initialize

Read DATA from RAM(07H)

Calculate of the temperature value

Store and display the temperature value

Return

Fig. (10). The flow charts of temperature measurement by MLX90614.

Start

System Initialization

N
Keys Pressed?

Close timer

Keys Processing

Open timer

Timer Overflow

N
Other Operation?
Y

Deal with the Operation

Low Power Consumption Management

N
Key 1 or 4?
Y

System Wakeup

Fig. (11). The flow chart of main program.

It can get the Celsius temperature from the formula 3.2. Main Program
T (°C) = [DataHigh : DataLow]*0.2 ! 273.15 Main program is a big loop. The flow chart of main pro-
gram is shown in Fig. (11).
Design of Non-contact Infra-Red Thermometer The Open Automation and Control Systems Journal, 2015, Volume 7 15

Table 4. The distance coefficient requirement.

D(mm) 10 20 50 100

S(mm) <120 <240 <600 <1200

40
The measured temperature(°C )
35

30

25

20
S=5mm
S=10mm
S=15mm
15
20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
The actual temperature( °C )

Fig. (12). The comparison of the measured temperature to the actual temperature of the commercially available plastic water bottle at differ-
ent distances.

4. ANALYSIS OF THE TEST RESULTS
The measurement results of liquid temperature are af-
fected by many factors such as distance coefficient, meas-
ured distances, the material, the shape and the thickness of
liquid bottle. It is necessary to study these effects to elimi-
nate the measurement error. Considering the working envi-
ronment of liquid security identification system, the test
temperature is from 20°C to 40°C.
4.1. Distance Coefficient
The distance coefficient S/D is one of the most important
parameters for the infrared thermometer [7]. S is the distance
from the MLX90614 to the bottle, and D is the diameter of
the bottle. When use the instrument with the S/D equal 12/1,
the distance coefficient requirement as shown in Table 4.
4.2. Effects of Different Test Distances
First, study the effects of different test distance on differ-
ent materials. Plastic, ceramic, glass and paper are chosen as
the test specimens, and the test distances S are at 5mm,
10mm and 15mm respectively.
The comparison of the measured temperature to the actu-
al temperature of the commercially available plastic water
bottle at different distance is shown in Fig. (12).
The comparison of the measured temperature to the actu-
al temperature of the ceramic bottle at different distances is
shown in Fig. (13).
The comparison of the measured temperature to the actu-
al temperature of the glass bottle at different distances is
shown in Fig. (14).
The comparison of the measured temperature to the actu-
al temperature of the paper bottle at different distances is
shown in Fig. (15).
The test result shows that the distance of the MLX90614
to the bottle will affect the measurement. The error is mini-
mal while the distance S measured is at 5mm. With the dis-
tance S increase, the measurement error will also increase.
The maximal error are 2.6°C (S=5mm), 2.8°C (S= 10mm)
and 3.1°C (S=15mm) for glass bottle at 40°C.
4.3. Different Materials of the Bottle
The material of bottles affects the measured results. We
study the different results of bottles with different materials
at a fixed distance.
The comparison of the measured temperature to the actu-
al temperature of the bottles with different materials at a dis-
tance of S=5mm is shown in Fig. (16).
The maximal error is 26°C at 40°C for glass and ceramic
bottles at a distance of S=5mm.
The comparison of the measured temperature to the actu-
al temperature of the bottles with different materials at a dis-
tance of S=10mm is shown in Fig. (17).
16 The Open Automation and Control Systems Journal, 2015, Volume 7 Jin et al.

38
36

The measured temperature(°C )

34
32
30
28
26
24
22
S=5mm
20 S=10mm
S=15mm
18
20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
The actual temperature( °C )

Fig. (13). The comparison of the measured temperature to the actual temperature of the ceramic bottle at different distances.

38
36
The measured temperature(°C )

34
32
30
28
26
24
22
S=5mm
20 S=10mm
S=15mm
18
20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
The actual temperature( °C )

Fig. (14). The comparison of the measured temperature to the actual temperature of the glass bottle at different distances.

38
36
The measured temperature(°C )

34
32
30
28
26
24
22
S=5mm
20 S=10mm
S=15mm
18
20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
The actual temperature( °C )

Fig. (15). The comparison of the measured temperature to the actual temperature of the paper bottle at different distances.
Design of Non-contact Infra-Red Thermometer The Open Automation and Control Systems Journal, 2015, Volume 7 17

40

The measured temperature(°C )

35

30

25
plastic bottle
ceramic bottle
20 Glass bottle(3mm)
Glass bottle(9mm)
paperbottle
15
20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
The actual temperature( °C )

Fig. (16). The comparison of the measured temperature to the actual temperature of the bottles with different materials at a distance of
S=5mm.

40
The measured temperature(°C )

35

30

25
plastic bottle
ceramic bottle
20 Glass bottle(3mm)
Glass bottle(9mm)
paperbottle
15
20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
The actual temperature( °C )

Fig. (17). The comparison of the measured temperature to the actual temperature of the bottles with different materials at a distance of
S=10mm.

40
The measured temperature(°C )

35

30

25
plastic bottle
ceramic bottle
20 Glass bottle(3mm)
Glass bottle(9mm)
paperbottle
15
20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
The actual temperature( °C )

Fig. (18). The comparison of the measured temperature to the actual temperature of the bottles with different materials at a distance of
S=15mm.
18 The Open Automation and Control Systems Journal, 2015, Volume 7 Jin et al.

38
36

The measured temperature(°C )

34
32
30
28
26
24
22
20 Glass bottle (3mm)
Glass bottle (9mm)
18
20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
The actual temperature( °C )

Fig. (19). The comparison of the measured temperature to the actual temperature of different wall thickness of the bottle at a distance of
S=5mm.

38
36
The measured temperature(°C )

34
32
30
28
26
24
22
20 Glass bottle (3mm)
Glass bottle (9mm)
18
20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
The actual temperature( °C )

Fig. (20). The comparison of the measured temperature to the actual temperature of different wall thickness of the bottle at a distance of
S=10mm.

The maximal error is 3.2°C at 40°C for the bottles
with thin glass wall at a distance of S=10mm.
The comparison of the measured temperature to the
actual temperature of the bottles with different materials
at a distance of S=15mm is shown in Fig. (18).
The maximal error is 3.2°C at 40°C for the bottles with
thick glass walls at a distance of S=15mm.
The test results show that the bottles with different mate-
rials give different measurement errors. The commercially
available plastic water bottle produces minimum error as
compared to the other bottles, and the glass bottle produces
the maximal error.
4.4. Different Wall Thickness of the Bottle
The wall thickness of bottles will affect the measured re-
sults too. We study the results of different wall thickness of
glass bottles at a fixed distance.
The comparison of the measured temperature to the actu-
al temperature of different wall thickness of the bottle at a
distance of S=5mm is shown in Fig. (19).
The comparison of the measured temperature to the actu-
al temperature of different wall thickness of the bottle at a
distance of S=10mm is shown in Fig. (20).
Design of Non-contact Infra-Red Thermometer The Open Automation and Control Systems Journal, 2015, Volume 7 19

38
36

The measured temperature(°C )

34
32
30
28
26
24
22
20 Glass bottle (3mm)
Glass bottle (9mm)
18
20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
The actual temperature( °C )

Fig. (21). The comparison of the measured temperature to the actual temperature of different wall thickness of the bottle at a distance of
S=15mm.

40
The measured temperature(°C )

35

30

25

20
φ = 60mm
φ = 100mm
15
20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
The actual temperature( °C )

Fig. (22). The comparison of the measured temperature to the actual temperature of different diameters of the plastic bottle at a distance of
S=10mm.

The comparison of the measured temperature to the
actual temperature of different wall thickness of the bottle
at a distance of S=15mm is shown in Fig. (21).
The test results show that the different wall thickness of
the bottles gives different measurement errors. Yet the max-
imal error of the thin-wall bottle and the thick-wall one is
only 0.2°C between 20°C to 40°C. The measurement errors
are in the range of the design requirements, so the measure-
ment errors can be ignored in different wall thickness of bot-
tles.
4.5. Different Sizes of the Bottle
The diameter of the bottles may also affect the measured
results. We study the different results of different diameters
of commercially available plastic water bottle at a fixed dis-
tance.
The comparison of the measured temperature to the actu-
al temperature of different diameters of the bottle at a dis-
tance of S=10mm is shown in Fig. (22).
 20 The Open Automation and Control Systems Journal, 2015, Volume 7
The test results show that the different sizes of the bottles
give different measurement errors. Yet the maximal error of
the big plastic bottle and the small one is only 0.5°C at 40°C
in the measured distance of S=10mm.
To reduce the measurement errors, we can choose the
best test distance at S=5mm. The error can be controlled in
the range of 0.5°C by adding temperature compensation al-
gorithm according to the data of test.
CONCLUSION
The paper designed the non-contact Infra-Red thermome-
ter based on the sensor of MLX90614 and the most favored
microprocessor STM32F107 for the non-contact liquid secu-
rity identification system. Completed the hardware circuit,
made the PCB plate, programmed the software with Keil C
and debugged by Keil uVision4 MDK V4.22. Then, we stud-
ied the effects of the results of the temperature measured by
different bottles with different shapes, materials, sizes and
wall thickness at various measuring distances. It meets the
requirements of high reliability and low power consumption
with real time response. The system works efficiently and
meets the demands of the non-contact liquid security identi-
fication system.
Received: September 16, 2014 Revised: December 23, 2014
© Jin et al.; Licensee Bentham Open.
This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
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CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors confirm that this article content has no con-
flict of interest.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported in part by the National
“Twelve Five” Science and Technology Support Sub-
project (No. 2011BAK09B05) and National Natural
Science Foundation of China (No. 61202399).
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Accepted: December 31, 2014