An Open-Source, Durable, and Low-Cost Alternative to Commercially Available Soil Temperature Data Loggers

Soil temperatures play an important role in determining the distribution and function of organisms. However, soil temperature is decoupled from air temperature and varies widely in space. Characterizing and predicting soil temperature requires large and expensive networks of data loggers. We developed an open-source soil temperature data logger and created online resources to ensure our design was accessible. We tested data loggers constructed by students, with little prior electronics experience, in the lab, and in the field in Alaska. The do-it-yourself (DIY) data logger was comparably accurate to a commercial system with a mean absolute error of 2% from −20–0 °C and 1% from 0–20 °C. They captured accurate soil temperature data and performed reliably in the field with less than 10% failing in the first year of deployment. The DIY loggers were ~1.7–7 times less expensive than commercial systems. This work has the potential to increase the spatial resolution of soil temperature monitoring and serve as a powerful educational tool. The DIY soil temperature data logger will reduce data collection costs and improve our understanding of species distributions and ecological processes. It also provides an educational resource to enhance STEM, accessibility, inclusivity, and engagement.

Nine Channel Temperature Data Logger in Measuring the Effectiveness of the Sterilization Process of Medical Instruments with Dry Sterilization

Measuring the temperature on the dry sterilizer is very necessary because the temperature inside the dry sterilizer has the possibility that the temperature is not the same as the temperature that has been set and is displayed on the display. If the temperature in the dry sterilizer does not match the standard setting temperature for the sterilization process, then the sterilization process is said to be imperfect The purpose of this study is to record and monitor whether the distributed temperature in the sterilization chamber corresponds to the setting temperature. The workings of the temperature data logger tool is that the type K thermocouple temperature sensor will detect the temperature which then enters the analog signal conditioning circuit which then enters the ATMegga 2560 which has been given a program and processed in such a way, then the temperature will be displayed on a 4x20 character LCD. Temperature measurement data will be saved to the SD Card every 10 seconds in the form of a TXT file. This research has been used to record 2 sterilizers and compared with the Madgetech OctTemp2000 data logger. Based on data measurements and comparisons, the average error was obtained at a temperature of 50ºC with the smallest error value of 0.7% and the largest value of 3.9%. At a temperature of 100ºC, the smallest error value is 1.6% and the largest is 10.5%. Then at a temperature of 120ºC the smallest error value is 0.0% and the largest is 8.5%. This research can be used to help analyze the distribution of temperature in a room. With these measurement results, it can be said that this study still has afairly high error value at several measurement points.

Development of a Twenty-Two-Point Multichannel Temperature Data Logger Specially Customized and Coupled to a 160Wpeak Hybrid Photovoltaic/Thermal (PV/T) Flat Plate Solar Air Heater

A low cost multichannel temperature data logger was designed and fabricated in this study. The design was done using Max6675 temperature sensors and linear monolithic (LMs) temperature sensors. This data logger is an electronic device that records data over time based on microcontroller. The utilization of data logger in this work is to accomplish the task of monitoring the temperature measurement of the 160Wpeak hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) flat plate solar air heater. This data logger is just customized for this equipment—the hybrid photovoltaic/thermal solar air heater. The developed prototype was powered both internally and externally. It equally has a retrievable memory card module. The time series of the sensor was set at one minute interval. The trend of the temperature flow pattern measured from the hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) flat plate solar air heater was in consonance with the solar radiation flow pattern. This indicates that the peaks of the temperature plots fall at the peaks of the plots of solar radiation.

Experimental Study on Influence of Surfactant Dosage on Micro Explosion Occurrence in Water in Diesel Emulsion

An experimental investigation has been carried out to study the effect of surfactant dosage on micro explosion phenomenon. Three water in diesel emulsion with 20% water by volume was prepared using mechanical stirring at 17000rpm for 100s.The emulsions were stabilised by a were stabilized by a single surfactant with three different doses. Water in diesel emulsion droplet was suspended on a thermocouple and the evolution of micro explosion was recorded with a high speed camera synchronized with temperature data logger. Secondary atomization of emulsion droplet was observed under Leiden frost regime using a hot plate as the heat source. The results show that the occurrences of micro explosion are affected by the volume of added surfactant by influencing the exploding temperature and waiting time. Physical properties like density, viscosity and surface tension were also found to be influenced by the amount of surfactant used.