Abstract:

This project creates a wireless sensor actuator network for a scaled Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning controller rig that exists in Upson 126 in Professor Brandon Hencey’s Lab. This project is meant to facilitate data collection from the HVAC rig to Matlab software on a main PC by taking the full advantages of the wide spreading Xbee modules that operate on Zigbee protocol. This collected data helps to do further data analysis, model calibration and optimization without the need to wire a single component to the computer. This solid wireless network enables users to send commands and change set points and tune PID controllers to facilitate running experiments on the rig. Graphical User Interface GUI has been designed and implemented in Matlab to facilitate interaction with the wireless set-up. Decentralized multi-loop PID controllers have been implemented to control different actuators such as Peltier Heater/Cooler, pumps and fans.