Gadget Freak Case #218: Finally – A Decent Space Heater Thermostat
Andrew Morris designed an electronic thermostat that senses actual room temperature. He tested and tweaked the design to get the proper control range and hysteresis.
If you bought all the parts new, it would cost you about $30 to make. Depending on where you live, it might take a couple of years to get that back, but your comfort level will be greatly improved. The circuit can be made to be much more precise if needed. I'd replace the SCR power supply with a zener diode circuit or added an electronic regulator. This would only be needed if you used the thermal air pump to pull air through the box. If you used an isolated 24 volt power supply, the temp sensor could be brought outside the box, eliminating the need for the thermal air pump and any kind of regulated power supply.
Clever design, Andrew. Congrats. I'm curious about the cost of this compared to conventional technology. Is the cost higher? Are there some applications that would need this extra precision at any cost?
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
0
5 
