1. State of Our Knowledge Let’s summarize what we’ve learned so far: 1.We’re designing a control system for a soldering iron. 2.We have to keep the iron temperature at 300 o F +/- 10 o. 3.We’ve learned a bit about Agilent Vee, thermocouples, and relays.

2. What We Don’t Know What we don’t know can be summed up in a serious of questions: Why 300 o F ? How hot do soldering irons get? At what temperature does solder melt? How long does it take a soldering iron to heat up? Can we model this behavior?

3. Additional Memo Required Since we’ve discovered that there is a discrepancy with the temperature being measured in Fahrenheit or Centigrade… Write your Prof. a memo with information detailing your research in this area and include your recommendations.

4. Your Task 1.Design an Agilent Vee program to capture the voltage from a J thermocouple. 2.Convert the millivolt reading from the sensor into temperature readings. 3.Plotted this information in Excel. 4.Use Laboratory Exercise #7 as a guide

5. First Difficulty We need to figure out a transducer equation a.Use data sheet for a J thermocouple that the professor handed out last week. (use about 10 data points selected from the entire range) b.Plot the temperature rise as the voltage output increases for the sensor in Excel. c.Use the chart wizard to plot the graph. d.From the main menu, pull down on Chart and then click on Add Trendline. e.Determine the formula you’ll add to Agilent Vee.

6. Suggestions Divide and conquer. You can figure out the transducer equation as homework. On Friday, the equipment will be available to us. Consult with each other, other teams, and the professor.

7. More Suggestions You could just collect the millivolt readings and have Excel implement the conversion to temperature. The formula seen in the Lab (2 nd formula box) is useable, just not verifiable.

8. Communicating the Design Step 8 of the Design Process means: Do the Lab Report for this exercise. Include the usual paperwork associated with Agilent Vee. Make liberal use of your journals to record what you are doing, conclusions formed, mistakes made, errors corrected, and successes.