Send data to your Email for temperature supervision
Ahh IoT, such a big word… but what is it all about?
“The Internet of things (IoT) describes the network of physical objects -“things”-that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the Internet.” – Wikipedia
In simple words, IoT refers to connecting physical devices around the world using the internet in order to share data.
My client runs a warehouse full of automatic machines working 24/7 consecutively. Sometimes, parts of them get too hot which affects their efficiency.
One of my first IoT projects, was a product which reads the machines’ working temperatures, determines if it is above threshold and if so sends an Email to their main inbox.
Before looking for a solution to that problem, I had to make a research and check some machines to see how long it takes them to reach the temperature from the moment they have turned on related to how much it has been in use.
Therefore, I made a prototype, using ESP32 and a digital non-contact infrared thermometer, to collect that data.
Whenever the sensor detects a temperature above threshold it sends an Email says as follows:
As you can see, the mail specifies which machine sent the email so it will be easy to find her at the warehouse.
Here is how the prototype looks like:
For those who are interested in diving deeper
When it comes to iot, the ESP32 is a chip that packs a powerful punch. This low-cost, low-power system on a chip (SoC) series was created by Espressif Systems.
Based on its value for money, small size and relatively low power consumption, it is well suited to a number of different IoT applications.
To send emails using ESP32, you need to connect it to an SMTP Server.
SMTP means Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and it is an Internet standard for email transmission.
The results
The part that gets very hot after a long period of work, is the solenoid actuator which includes a coil of wire and a moveable plunger.
A coil, also called an inductor, is a passive two terminal electrical component that stores energy in a magnetic field when electric current flows through it.
More simply, a solenoid converts electrical energy into mechanical work.
An inductor, by definition, will consume as much current as it can get. The more current, the more heat.
Heat is what actually damages them.
In order to reduce the current consumption I used PWM.
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) is a DC supply voltage that is switched on and off at a given frequency for a modulated period of time (duty cycle).
The duty cycle is the “on” time of the voltage and is expressed as a percentage of the time period.
At 50% duty cycle the voltage is “on” for 50% of the time period and “off” for the remaining 50%.
Therefore, the time averaged voltage is only 50% of the maximum supply voltage and the current to the solenoid is only 50% of the maximum current as well.
It is this time averaging that allows PWM signals to be used for proportionally controlling solenoids.
The method presented here improved performance and energy consumption 🙂
Maybe a small fan could be a simpler solution? Who knows… 😉
