REPORT 2: TEMPERATURE CONTROL USING A

MICROCONTROLLER
1st Andrea Bartolo Guarin, 2nd Luis Miguel Hernández Bedoya, 3nd Marı́a Alejandra Ramirez Rada
Ingenierı́a Eléctrica (Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira), Pereira, Colombia.
email: 1st andrea.bartolo@utp.edu.co, 2nd m.hernandez3@utp.edu.co, 3nd alejandra.ramirez2@utp.edu.co

Abstract—The purpose of this practice is to measure the

temperature of a system using a PT100 and Arduino, and obtain a
representation of the data through a graph, it is observed how the
resistance and temperature are related in different environments.

Index Terms—PT100, temperature sensors, solid-state relays

I. I NTRODUCTION
In the present document is carried out the design of a
temperature controller using a microcontroller in which is
made use of a PT100, this PT100 is a temperature sensor
known as resistive, which is based on the dependence of
the resistivity of a conductor with the temperature and are
characterized by a coefficient positive resistivity coefficient.

The use of the operational amplifier is important to

obtain results in these tests, since the differences and results
are very small and their impact cannot be observed, that is
why the LM324 operational amplifier is used, which consists
of four independent operational amplifiers, high gain and with Fig. 1. Circuit to develop in practice
internal frequency compensation, which were specifically
designed to operate from a single power supply given by the
voltage divider for the PT100 in a wide voltage range.

Finally, the Arduino plays an important role to get the

results visually and to be able to be analyzed, the Arduino
is an open source electronics creation platform, which is
based on free hardware and software, flexible and easy to use
for creators and developers. This platform allows to create
different types of microcomputers from a single board and
can be given different types of use.
II. O BJECTIVES
1) To know the principle of operation of the PT100 and its Fig. 2. Real circuit
use for temperature measurement.
2) Learn how to use an Arduino to acquire and display
temperature data. temperature data. the Arduino board following the connection diagram
3) Understand the PT100 calibration process and the im- provided. Use jumper wires.
portance of calibration to ensure accurate measurements.
4) Identify practical applications of temperature measure- 3) Load the program on the Arduino board using the
ment with the PT100 and the Arduino. Arduino IDE software. Arduino IDE software. The
program must allow communication with the amplifier.
III. P ROCEDURE communication with the amplifier.
1) Mount the PT100 using a voltage divider and the com-
parator amplifier. 4) Adjust the 10 k potentiometer to obtain an accurate
2) Connect the comparator amplifier and the output of the reading of the temperature measured by the PT100,
voltage divider to the Arduino board voltage divider to using a known value of the reference temperature.
 The solution of the first 4 items of this report is carried
out by assembling the circuit shown in Figure 1 and
actual practice it is observed as shown in Figure 2. The
data obtained for this part can be seen in Figure 3 and
in the table I.

Fig. 4. Heating the PT100

Fig. 3. Ambient temperature measurement

TABLE I
A MBIENT TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT DATA

Vpt100 Temperature Vamp

2.4 20.85 2.19
2.41 19.76 2.21
2.4 20.85 2.2
2.4 20.85 2.23
2.4 20.85 2.22
2.4 20.85 2.21
2.41 19.76 2.22 Fig. 5. Heating the PT100
2.41 19.76 2.23

6) Place a solid state relay upstream of the load resistor

5) It performs temperature measurements at different points and observe its operation.
in the test environment and records the data obtained on
a computer using data visualization software. Figures 6 and 7 show the base circuit of the development
of this practice with the use of a solid state relay in both
To carry out this part of the practice of taking measure- cases of ambient temperature and different temperature
ments at different points, what was carried out was to points.
heat the PT100 with a temperature resistor as shown in
Figure 4 and obtain the results seen in the table III and The natural operation of the circuit what it does is that
in Figure 5. the potentiometer varies the value of the voltage divider
by varying its resistance so that when entering the relay
TABLE II
after the trip point, it will maintain fixed that value to
PT100 H EATING ensure a constant voltage to the system.
Vpt100 Temperature
2.39 23.02
7) The data obtained are analyzed and the possible practical
2.39 24.12 applications of the temperature measurement system
2.38 25.22 with the PT100 and the Arduino are discussed.
2.38 26.33 It is clear that all the graphs show the inverse rela-
2.37 27.43
2.37 28.55 tionship between the temperature and the voltage of
2.36 29.67 the PT100 when it is heated. Since only a format of
2.36 30.79 2 decimal places was used, the graph is shown in a
staggered manner, but it is most likely that if it had
more decimal places, the inverse trend of both variables
 Fig. 6. Using solid state relay to Ta Fig. 8. Using solid state relay with PT100 hot

TABLE III
S OLID S TATE R ELAY U SAGE M EASUREMENTS WITH H OT PT100

Vpt100 Temperature
2.22 65.51
2.21 66.79
2.21 68.07
2.2 69.36
2.2 70.66
2.19 71.95
2.19 73.26
2.18 74.57
2.18 75.89
2.17 77.21
2.17 78.54
2.16 79.87
2.16 81.22

of these sensors.

Fig. 7. Using solid state relay with PT100 hot IV. R EPORT
1) What is the working principle of PT100 and how is
it used to measure temperature?
would be shown even better. This is because temperature
The principle of operation of the PT100 is based on the
changes represent small voltage changes in the PT100,
variation of its electrical resistance as a function of the
of approximately 0.01 volts.
temperature to which it is exposed. A PT100 is a type
8) Propose improvements or extensions to the system, such of resistance thermometer that is composed of a pure
as the use of multiple sensors or the multiple sensors or platinum wire, whose electrical resistance increases as
integration with other control systems. the temperature increases.
An alternative is to implement a differential mode op
To measure temperature using a PT100, it is connected
amp to take more advantage of the Wheatstone bridge
in series with an electrical circuit and an electric current
and take measurements from there and use a DAQ,
is applied. The voltage generated in the PT100 due
which is somewhat more robust than using the Ar-
to its electrical resistance varies as a function of the
duino.Also, put more amplifiers to continue increasing
temperature to which it is exposed. This variation can
the output gain and notice more differences at the
be measured with a suitable measuring instrument, such
moment of small temperature changes. As, for example,
as a precision thermometer, which converts the voltage
operational amplifiers in inverting mode. You can change
variation in a temperature reading, for this practice we
the temperature sensor and use thermocouples, which are
use the Arduino microcontroller which allows to obtain
the most widely used sensors at the industrial level to
these measurements.
measure temperature. Also, an NTC or PTC sensor can
be used to measure the temperature. Of course, it is clear It is important to note that the PT100 must be properly
that the conditioning circuit must be changed for each calibrated to obtain accurate and reliable measurements,
 which is why in practice we rely on an average ambient the PT100 and the Arduino?
temperature. In addition, it is necessary to take into
account the electrical resistance of the connection cables • Line graphs: Line graphs are a good option to show
to avoid measurement errors. how the temperature has changed over time. You can
plot temperature data on the Y-axis and time on the
2) What are the advantages of using a microcontroller X-axis. This type of graph is especially useful if you
such as Arduino to measure temperature compared want to analyze trends or patterns in temperature
to other temperature measurement methods? data.
There are several advantages to using a microcontroller • Bar charts: If you want to compare the temperature
such as Arduino to measure temperature compared to at different points in time or at different locations, a
other temperature measurement methods: bar chart might be a good choice. You can plot the
temperature on the Y-axis and the different dates or
• Accuracy: Microcontrollers such as Arduino can locations on the X-axis.
provide accurate temperature measurements due to • Digital thermometer: A digital thermometer is
high-speed processing capability and precise tem- a simple and effective way to display the current
perature calculation algorithms. temperature in real time. You can design a digital
thermometer to display the temperature in Celsius
• Flexibility: Microcontrollers are highly
or Fahrenheit, and you can update the display at
programmable, which means they can be
regular intervals to reflect changes in temperature.
configured to measure temperature in a wide
range of environments and situations.
• Scatter plots: If you want to visualize the relation-
• Cost: Microcontrollers are relatively inexpensive ship between two variables (e.g., temperature and
compared to other temperature measurement meth- humidity), a scatter plot might be useful. You can
ods, making them an attractive option for projects plot temperature on the X-axis and humidity on the
with limited budgets. Y-axis, with each point on the graph representing a
• Ease of use: Microcontrollers such as Arduino are measurement.
easy to program and use, even for users with little In general, the type of visualization you choose will
programming experience. depend on your objectives and the data you are
trying to analyze.
• Integration: Microcontrollers like Arduino can be 5) What are the practical applications of temperature
easily integrated into larger, more complex systems, measurement with PT100 and Arduino in industry,
allowing for long-term temperature data collection science or technology?
and analysis.
• Volcano monitoring using arduino and simulink
3) How is PT100 calibration performed and what fac- platforms [1].
tors must be taken into account to ensure accurate • Design of a system to measure temperature with
temperature measurement? industrial sensors.[2].
Calibration of a PT100 is performed to ensure that • Remote temperature measurement system using (4-

temperature measurements are accurate and reliable. 20) mA current[3].

Calibration involves comparing readings from the PT100 • Temperature sensor for water tanks.

or configuring it with software such as Arduino. • Measuring temperature in industrial machinery.

sensor for air conditioners.
To calibrate a PT100, it must be immersed in a series of and monitoring of industrial processes[4].
calibration baths covering a wide range of temperatures. 6) How can the functionalities of a temperature mea-
During calibration, the temperature reading obtained surement system be improved or extended with the
with the PT100 should be observed through the software PT100 and the Arduino?
with a reference measurement from the environment.
Any deviation in the PT100 readings compared to the • Add an LCD display: An LCD display would
ambient is corrected from the same software. allow the real-time temperature to be displayed, as
well as other relevant data, such as date and time.
To ensure an accurate temperature measurement using
• Incorporate a user interface: through a user inter-
a PT100, several important factors must be taken into
face, the user could be allowed to change temper-
account such as: proper selection of the PT100, installa-
ature units (e.g., Celsius or Fahrenheit), set alarms,
tion conditions, connection conditions and effects of the
and adjust system settings.
connection cables.
• Include an SD card: an SD card would allow real-
4) What data display methods can be used to present time temperature data to be stored on an external
the results obtained by measuring temperature with memory for later analysis.
 • Incorporate a humidity sensor: by adding a
humidity sensor, you could measure both the
ambient temperature and humidity, which could
be useful in many applications, such as indoor air
quality control.

These are just a few of the ways in which the func-

tionalities of a temperature measurement system
could be enhanced or extended with the PT100 and
the Arduino. The choice of specific functionalities
will depend on the particular application for which
the system is being designed.
V. C ONCLUSIONES
• Although with the system that was implemented you can
test the operation of the PT100 and the Arduino, you can
incorporate improvements such as, for example, control,
an LCD screen and other sensors. Also with these
improvements this system would be more functional for
a real application.

• Using a microcontroller such as Arduino to measure

temperature offers a combination of accuracy, flexibility,
affordable cost, ease of use and ability to integrate into
larger systems, making it a popular choice for temperature
measurement projects.
• To ensure accurate temperature measurement using a
PT100, proper selection of the PT100, installation and
connection conditions, the effects of connecting cables
and regular calibration must be taken into account.
R EFERENCES
[1] V.-V. G. E. Altamirano-Santillán, E V and J. C. Cruz-Hurtado, “Monitoreo
volcánico usando plataformas arduino y simulink.” 2017.
[2] A. R. Ramos, M. N. Tejerina, A S, and A. De Santis, “Diseño
de un sistema para medir temperatura con sensores industriales
utilizando programación gráfica labview.” 2022. [Online]. Available:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7622730
[3] D. Bautista, “DiseÑo de un sistema de medición remota de temperatura
empleando transmisión en corriente de 4 a 20 ma,” 2021.
[4] naylamp mechatronics, “Sensor de temperatura rtd pt100 (2 hilos),”
2022. [Online]. Available: https://naylampmechatronics.com/