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I'm a mechanical engineering student with no knowledge on Arduino microcontroller. I am currently working on a project of using Artificial Neural Network in a hybrid solar heating system. The hybrid solar heating system consists of solar flat plate collector for absorbing solar thermal energy and a secondary heater from an electrical supply (immersion heater). I intend using a forecast model to predict the ambient temperature of the surroundings and calculating the corresponding temperature obtainable from a given quantity of liquid using energy balace equations from the solar collector. Different temperature ranges would need different amount of power supply from the electrical heater to obtain a particular water temperature (I'm aware an exact temperature can't be obtained, so maybe +/- 3 degrees difference).

The difficulty I face is how to use Arduino to interface the electrical heater to regulate the amount of heating depending on the predicted temperature from the Artificial Neural Network (i.e if the flat plate solar collector is only able to attain 35 degrees so I'll be needing an additional 10 degrees from the electrical heater to attain a target 45 degrees temperature which is the desired temperature). So how do I set up the arduino interface to supply an additional 420000 joules of electrical energy to get the 10 degrees temperature rise in span of 30 minutes. How can this regulation be done on a 220v 600W immersion heater to produce 420,000 joules in 30 minutes. The 420,000 joules isn't a fixed value, it could change depending on the predicted temperature.

I'd appreciate an explanation that could help me achieve this. A circuit diagram, Arduino code would go a long way in helping.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ The simplest way is to turn the heater on if the temperature <= 45° and off if the temperature is >45°, or perhaps add some hysteresis to keep the heater from switching too often. Take care of the degrees and the joules will take care of themselves. There are other algorithms that may be better depending on how bad your sensor position is (eg. Smith Predictor), but see if the simplest works. \$\endgroup\$
    – Spehro 'speff' Pefhany
    Commented May 7, 2020 at 19:57

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You can use a relay in order to control the heater. The heater should turn on when the temperature is lower(<=40 degrees) and turn of when its 45 degrees, which is the hysteresis, like mentioned in the comment from Spehro Pefhany. Without knowing the rating of your heater and setup, I can't tell you what kind of a relay you need. The biggest problem is measuring the temperature, since water needs time for the temperature to become even everywhere and your sensor will be at 1 place. You can check this setup, its the same as what you need: https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/whitebank/arduino-heating-element-control-224882

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