System Monitoring and Control for Cluster of Climate Chambers

Amonitoring and control system was developed for the operation of a cluster of 30 climate chambers. The system employed touch screens, a programmable logic controller (PLC), a Raspberry Pie microcomputer, Kingview software, an SCADA distributed control system, HD cameras, animage recording system, sensors, and actuators. The touch screen devicescollected environmental real-time data from each chamberfor man-machine interface operations. PLC controlled the humidity and other environmental conditions in the chambers according to the pre-determined criteria for a planned test.Customized software installed on the Raspberry Pie microcomputer ran managementplan, executed authority assignment, served protocol conversion, and controlled environmental conditions for each individual chamber. Kingview covered local management, configuration, and data recording. Data acquisition, storage and configuration wereremotely managed by a master control center built with Clear SCADA. TheModbusTCP protocolconnected all modules via the TCP network. High definition cameras installed at strategic locations captured images providing real-timedisplay and record-keeping functions. Thus, an entire cluster of climate chambers could be reliably and simultaneously monitored and controlled with ease for conducting experimentations.