PID controller tutorial

Calvin Robinson

Calvin Robinson

Moderator Christian Forum
My pizza oven had gotten to where it was unreliable as a tempering oven because of its inability to hold temperature accurately.
Per KenH's advice I ordered,from Auber Instruments Inc.(http://auberins.com) the following components.
1- TC-K3,three foot,K type,thermocouple.
1- SYL-2362, PID,controller.
1-MGT-1D4825, 25 amp, SSR,solid state relay.
I scrounged around the shop and found an old emergency breakaway electric brake enclosure,a used power cord pigtale and a 1/2" romex connector and various pieces of stranded copper wire.
I had to buy locally a single electrical receptical and a matching cord cap and on/off switch.
When I had everything in hand I layed it all out and surveyed how to make it all fit in my enclosure. Then I marked all my holes and cut and drilled them as needed.
I mounted the PID and the on/off switch in the front cover.I mounted the electrical receptical in the bottom and also installed the romex connector for the power cord and drilled a hole for the thermocouple lead to pass through in the bottom of the enclosure. I mounted the relay in the back of the enclosure.
Then I sat down and designd and drew a wiring diagram and then,following the diagram I cut and stripped and attached all the wiring.
Then I plugged it in and,using Auber's instructions on their website configured it for my application,KenH suggested using the "auto tune" setting so it will tune itself to the application.
Then I mounted it on the wall adjacent to my pizza oven,drilled a hole in one end of the oven to pass the thermocouple through,layed the thermocouple on top of the firebrick that I keep in my oven,plugged the power cord into a wall receptical,plugged the pizza oven into the receptical on the bottom of the enclosure and turned on the power,set a temperature and watched it as it went to work. It's nice to be able to see the temperature in one degree increments and then watch it as it cycles on and off to maintain the temperature. This thing holds the temp to + or - 5 degrees ,I'm going to wrap the oven in fiberglass insulation to see if it will hold tighter tolerances.
This controller made a useless pizza oven into a reliable tempering oven for anything up to 450 deg.
 
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Calvin, good job on tutorial - I'm sure it will help lots of folks.

Run that Auto-Tune procedure a couple of times - it should be holding better than ±1ºF. I just checked my setup today and it wasn't as good as normal. I ran the AT function agian and now it seems to be holding 400ºF ±1.

You do have "Control Output Mode" set to "2" for the SSR output?

Ken H>
 
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I recently installed that same PID in a wax burnout kiln for HT'ing.

I'm having a horrible time trying to follow the programing sequence.
 
Calvin, I was sure you had output set to "2", but sometimes I have to double/triple check.... and still mess up. Let us know if another run of AT helps. Hey, ±5ºF is plenty good - just wish my evenheat oven held that close.
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Mark - Where are you at in getting the programming setup? From beginning? OR - have you got it working now? Give me a phone call if you wish and we can talk thru the programming.

Ken H>
home phone: 251.279.0421 (I'm usually around during day - if no answer, leave msg)
 
Ken
Thank you for your offer it will be a couple of days before I can get into the shop and sit with the PID I need to study it and make a list of questions. I can set a single heat and hold it. Trouble reaching manual mode and not anywhere close to being able to set and run a program.
 
Thank you Mr, Robinson! You have changed my life forever! I'm going to do the same thing, and how about using one for temp control on a quenching tank.

Thanks again. Duncan
 
I'm definitely planning to do this project . Thanks for taking the time to do the tutorial.

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2
 
so i can use a small kitchen oven for accurate tempering?with some modifications..
How are the results?
 
Many of us use what's called a "Toaster Oven" here in USA - not sure if that's what you're referring to as "small kitchen oven" or not. Do a quick search on toaster oven, and if it is - the answer is YES! They work great for tempering up to around 450ºF - provided you have a decent temperature control installed. Not sure how accurate your t'stat is on the oven, but normally toaster ovens don't have that close control. Adding a PID controller at a cost of less than $100 USD is what Calvin wrote up his WIP at start of this thread.

So, the question is, What is a small kitchen oven, and what mods are you thinking of?

Ken H>
 
KenH said:
Many of us use what's called a "Toaster Oven" here in USA - not sure if that's what you're referring to as "small kitchen oven" or not. Do a quick search on toaster oven, and if it is - the answer is YES! They work great for tempering up to around 450ºF - provided you have a decent temperature control installed. Not sure how accurate your t'stat is on the oven, but normally toaster ovens don't have that close control. Adding a PID controller at a cost of less than $100 USD is what Calvin wrote up his WIP at start of this thread.

So, the question is, What is a small kitchen oven, and what mods are you thinking of?

Ken H>
Click to expand...

Yep corect!Thanks ! i had no clue that it was called Toaster oven :)

As the tutorial i am thinking to add an PID controller , also a better thermocouple and make better isolation in the door with kaowool blanket
 
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