Autotuning
1. The ThermoClamp includes its own autotuning routine to pick control
parameters (gains) that are well-suited to each particular test setup. If
both the control (bath) sensor and safety sensors are being used, then it
autotunes the system using the control sensor temperature. If only the
safety sensor is plugged in, then it uses that to perform the autotuning.
2. To start autotuning, first let the controller stabilize near the desired
setpoint, since tuning will be most effective this way. Autotuning
works best if you use it while the entire system including microscope
stage, perfusion flow, any external heaters, etc. are all functioning like
they will during normal use.
3. Hold the “Sel” button for at least 3 seconds to enter the settings menu,
and then press “Sel” to move through the parameters until “TUNE”
is displayed on the blue (left) LED display. Press either the “Up” or
“Down” button once to change the default “No” value to “Yes”, and
then wait 10 seconds for the settings menu to time out and exit. The
system will immediately start autotuning when it leaves the settings
menu and “TUNE” has been set to “Yes”.
4. The controller will display an “A” on each LED display during
autotuning, and it will warm and cool the system while measuring the
response on the sensors. This will normally only take about 5 minutes,
but it could take up to 20 minutes for slow systems. If the controller
can’t perform its tuning routine in 20 minutes, then it will time-out
without setting new control gains.
5. During autotuning, the controller will send a slightly different format
of serial data output to the computer. It will look like the following six
columns, where the “Time” channel displays the number of seconds
that have elapsed since the start of autotuning and the “Runaway”
error state is not displayed. The other channels are the same as the
normal serial output:
Time Control Safety Heater I1 I2
0.0 31.7 33.4 0.18 0.004 0.000
0.5 31.7 33.4 0.80 0.854 0.802
1.0 31.7 33.4 0.80 0.874 0.812
1.5 31.8 33.5 0.80 0.892 0.818
24
