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Session 2559

A PIC-based LCD Display for Stand-Alone Instrumentation Michael Case, Dr. Bruce E. Segee Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University Of Maine Instrumentation Research Laboratory

Abstract

A recent application in instrumentation led to the development of a temperature controller unit that was capable of operating independently or in a shared RS-232 arrangement under control of a host computer. However, when this system is used independently, no user interface is available other than a set of DIP switches to control the set point. Using a PIC 16C773 microcontroller and a conventional two-line LCD display we have developed a display device whose functionality is very flexible. The device uses the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) to interrogate one or more controllers and cycle the contents of the LCD display. The display unit is configured as an SPI master (one who can initiate the transfer of information). Multiple slave devices can be connected to a single SPI. Thus, one can easily have one device per display, one display for many devices, or a mixture of the two. While this device was developed for a specific application, its usefulness extends to a broad range of applications.

1. Introduction

1.1 Problem Description

In a joint effort between the University of Maine’s Instrumentation and Research Laboratory and Sensor Research and Development Corporation, a device used to control the temperature of solid state thin film gas sensors has been in development. A block diagram of the sensor temperature control circuitry is shown in Figure 1. A host computer can interact with the system using a shared RS-232 network to set or check temperature and many other things, but a goal of the system is to also allow independent operation. When running independently, the only form of interaction between the user and the temperature controller is by means of a set of DIP switches that can be used to specify a temperature setting. Although the system is precalibrated to provide precise temperature control, confirmation of temperature and continual monitoring is highly desirable. A method of data collection and presentation needed to monitor the status of the sensors was required.

Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2001, American Society for Engineering Education

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Case, M., & Segee, B. (2001, June), A Pic Based Lcd Display For Stand Alone Instrumentation Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9647