A smart device of data acquisition with emergency safety features for laboratory furnaces

Abstract

Laboratory furnaces or ovens are found in scientific, forensic, medicinal, and material processing labs. They provide precise temperature control and homogenous heating for samples in industrial and research applications but cannot measure the sample's interior temperature and most of them do not have the facility to store temperature data. Moreover, a furnace cannot promptly shut off if a sample or the furnace catches fire due to overheating or an electrical failure. To solve these problems, in this work, an intelligent, automated add-on device with wireless monitoring and emergency safety features to use with any commercial furnace or oven is presented. The device can individually measure furnace and sample temperatures at the same time using a two-channel K-type thermocouple unit. The system can store the real-time temperature data generated by the thermocouples, display it on LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and give the facility to observe this real-time data from anywhere within an area of 800–1000-m radius using the portable wireless monitor device without the need for Wi-Fi or internet. Additionally, the device can quickly detect fire or overheating, immediately cuts the power automatically, activates a loud alarm and dials the user's phone itself using Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) technology to warn them.

Keywords

• Smart furnace
• Add-on furnace controller
• Automation
• Microcontroller
• GSM-Based device
• Wireless monitor