Overheat protection for immersion heaters : Analysis of analog and digital temperature sensors

Abstract: Immersion heaters are used by industries to heat fluids. The element of an immersion heater need to be fully immersed into the heated liquid, otherwise it could be subject to overheat. The main purpose of this thesis is to find a temperature sensor, which could signal in case the immersion heater is at risk to suffer from overheat due to low liquid level. A comparison of accuracy, size and cost between an analog and a digital sensor is held, to conclude whether either one is at an advantage for this application.An immersion heater with ceramic element and quartz glass tube and a water tank, both provided by Scandymet, is used during experiments. First, the position for the sensor inside the heater was examined, by placing the sensor at different positions. Next, measurements of the operating temperature of the immersion heater were made at different liquid levels. This resulted in a placement for the sensor near the head of the immersion heater and an approximate temperature range from 41 ℃ to 58 ℃. Both the analog and digital sensors is chosen with measurable ranges to match the result from previous experiments. A thermistor along with a linearizing series resistor make the analog design and a DS18B20+ with a pull-up resistor the digital design. The microcontroller for both designs is Adafruit Feather Adalogger M0, which is programmed in C/C++ using Arduino IDE software. It is concluded that it is possible to signal in case liquid level decrease below minimum level, by inserting a temperature sensing device into the immersion heater. The sensor should be placed above the maximum liquid level mark, close to the head of the heater. The analog design would be recommended as overheat protection, due to its smaller size, less expensive and, with further calibration, accurate response.