Temperature+Sensors

DREAMS Temperature Sensors Mustafa Ben & PJ Conde This experiment is to use temperature sensors on the DREAMS 17 mission. The temperature sensors will be used to measure the temperature as the balloon elevates and descends over the course of the mission. Essentially the core goal is to observe how the temperature changes as an object reaches heights where the earth's atmosphere is thinner.
 * Purpose: **


 * Procedures: **
 * Preparing to launch:
 * Ø Set up the arduinos
 * Ø Solder the ground and power (black and red) wires onto a power board
 * Ø Connect the remaining white wire to the arduino
 * Ø Solder each individual sensor
 * Ø Test that the circuit of the power board is functional
 * Ø Test each sensor to see if they function properly (be sure to use a battery of adequate voltage)
 * Ø Make sure the SD card being used has enough memory to store the files of data
 * Ø Connect the arduino with all the sensors within the secondary box
 * Ø Find places for all 14 of the sensors to take adequate readings and get the best data possible


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Launch Day:
 * Ø <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Check that every sensor is in place
 * Ø <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Test sensors one last time
 * Ø <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Make sure the arduino has a fresh battery
 * Ø <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Clear sufficient space on the SD card for data to be collected
 * Ø <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Final check on sensor placement
 * Ø <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Prepare for launch
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">After Launch:
 * Ø <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Retrieve data collected for the SD card
 * Ø <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Using Excel and the equation convert the milivolts to degrees Celsius
 * Ø <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Plot the degrees Celsius to analyze the changes in temperature during the time of flight
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Analysis **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The excel document <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> provides a voltage output that is proportional to the Celsius temperature. To convert to Celsius, we used the equation <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">. For us, the V out in milivolts was <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> because we used a voltage input of 5 Volts. If we needed Fahrenheit, we would simply use the <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> equation. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">After testing the sensors and examining the data, we found that some of the sensors looked irregular compared to the others. One sensor gave a string of random numbers that seemed to have no correlation and another simply just gave an output of 0’s. After troubleshooting a few times by examining the solder and retesting the sensors, we decided that they may have simply been attached poorly.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is a graph of the data from one of the temp sensors. We already converted the voltage outputs to temperatures, so the units for these numbers are measured degrees Celsius. The graph starts from the time that we turned on the sensors, and begins to pick up at the time that I put my fingers on it. After I let go, the heat gradually dissipates.

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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is a graph of wires with no sensors attached. A sensor with a graph that looked similar to this would be alarming because it is just a graph of random numbers.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is the graph of a sensor we suspect to be broken. The line is very abnormal compared to all of our other graphs. Also, I used my fingers to heat the sensor and because we are getting negative degrees Celsius, we know something is wrong with this.