sddec18-02 • Steam Heat Controller Retrofit

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Senior Design Team sddec18-02 • Steam Heat Controller Retrofit

Problem Statement

As with many buildings on Iowa State University's campus, Coover Hall relies on steam to heat the building. Unfortunately, the room temperature is controlled by valves that are commonly hidden behind furniture or equipment making it difficult to adjust the temperature. Additionally, there is no reliable way to control the room temperature consistently as the room is subjected to outside weather and other factors and the valve cannot compensate for these variances. In other words, the only way to adjust the temperature is to open or close the valve manually and wait to see if the temperature changes desirably. There are also no mechanisms in place to control the valves remotely or en masse.

Solution

We developed a three part system that measures the temperature and adjusts the valve based on the users desired temperature. This temperature can be specified locally in the room or online at thermostat.ece.iastate.edu.

Motor Control Unit

Measures the current temperature and rotates the valve based on whether the temperature is hotter or colder then the user specified temperature.

Remote Control Unit

The local interface of our system. The RCU sits in the room like a traditional thermostat. It takes in user input and displays the current temperature and error messages.

Web Control Unit

The remote interface of our system. The WCU allows users to monitor the temperatures online and change them there as well.