With the rise of maker culture and geeks, using Arduino and various electronic modules to create interesting projects has become increasingly popular. Today, let’s create a temperature detection project and experience the joy of creation.
Principle of Arduino Temperature Detection
The basic principle of Arduino temperature detection is to use a temperature sensor to obtain the temperature, then read the sensor’s voltage value through Arduino’s analog input, and finally calculate the standard temperature value using the formula based on the sensor’s datasheet. Common temperature sensors include Thermistor, DS18B20, and LM35. Today, we choose to use LM35, which is a high-precision and easy-to-use linear temperature sensor.
Introduction to LM35 Sensor
LM35 is a temperature sensor with an accuracy of ±0.5°C, measuring range from -55°C to 150°C, and its output voltage is directly proportional to the temperature, increasing by 10mV for every 1°C rise. Other advantages of LM35 include:
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Wide operating voltage range, can work between 4-30V
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Low self-heating effect, high accuracy
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Linear output, easy to use
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Small size, easy to integrate
Therefore, LM35 is very suitable for use with microcontrollers like Arduino, and it can be converted to standard temperature readings with simple calculations.
Required Materials and Modules
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Arduino UNO x 1
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LM35 Temperature Sensor x 1
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Dupont Wires x several
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Breadboard x 1
Hardware Connection
The LM35 has very simple pins, with only 3 pins: power positive, ground, and analog output. We connect the LM35 to Arduino as shown in the figure below:
Software Programming
Programming in Arduino language is very simple; we only need a few lines of code to measure the temperature. The main steps are:
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Initialize serial communication
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Read the analog value from LM35
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Calculate the temperature
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Print the temperature value to the serial monitor
In the above code, we read the analog value using analogRead(), then convert it to voltage. According to the LM35 datasheet, the output voltage increases by 10mV for every 1°C rise, so we can calculate the standard temperature. Using Serial.print, we can print the temperature value in the serial monitor for easy viewing.
Experimental Results
Now we can read the temperature using Arduino with simple connections and a few lines of code. Power on and open the serial monitor to see the real-time temperature readings from the LM35 sensor.
Temperature detection is a very common project. Once we can obtain the temperature in real-time using Arduino and the LM35 sensor, we can unleash our creativity to create various interesting temperature detection projects. For example:
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Smart Thermostat – Control heating or cooling devices based on temperature feedback to maintain a constant temperature
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Smart Greenhouse – Detect greenhouse temperature and feedback control heating systems
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Water Tank Temperature Monitoring – Monitor the temperature of aquariums or water tanks and control heating devices
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Food Transport Monitoring – Monitor temperature changes during food transportation
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Human Body Temperature Detection – Can be made into a non-contact human body temperature detector
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High Temperature Alarm – Trigger an alarm when the temperature is too high
By adding some actuators, such as relays, motors, buzzers, etc., we can expand various temperature detection projects.
Summary
Through this simple temperature detection project, we learned:
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How to read analog input in Arduino
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The use of temperature sensor LM35
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How to calculate temperature based on the sensor’s datasheet
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Arduino serial printing debugging method Temperature detection is a very typical Arduino project. I believe that through this project, everyone will have a deeper understanding of Arduino programming. There are many applications for temperature sensors, and I hope everyone can unleash their creativity based on this to create more interesting projects!
I hope this project brings you some inspiration and help.
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