PH-PT click

I almost finish PH-PT click for the “MikroElektronika” company. This click board is interface for a PH electrode and a PT temperature probe. It contains two integrate circuits. One is the analog interface for a PH electrode and a PT probe LMP91200 and the second is analog-digital converter MCP3428. For communication with a microcontroller the PH-PT click board uses SPI for setting the analog interface LMP91200 and I2C for communication with the ADC MCP3428.

Reading PT probe is tested and it works fine. I’ll buy PH electrode and will test second functionality. 

I made a small mistake with voltage reference and I have to do a review. This would be just a little change in the PCB. There are too much administrative tasks at my job and my brain gets rusty. I must work more on a hardware and software.  

More about the “MikeoElektronika” click boards you can find on www.microe.com/click/.

KiCad

Pellet burner controller PCB in KiCad

KiCad is software for electronics design. The programs handle Schematic Capture and PCB Layout with Gerber output. 

KiCad is free software, open source. It runs on Windows, Linux and OS X. 

I like KiCad. I used it to design the Pellet burner controller PCB and plan use it for some future projects. 

KiCad is simple and comfortable to using and I recommend it to everyone. 

Demand power

A demand power can be found at an electrical bill in an industry. Also, it can be found at an electrical bill in a household. In the industry the demand power is measured, and in a household this is just one more mysterious budget item at the electrical bill. 

An electric meter in the industry measures average power on the define time interval. The maximum average power on the define time interval in one month is demand power for that month. The define time interval can be from 10 minutes to 30 minutes. In Serbia this is 15 minutes. A new electric meter the 15 minutes interval synchronizes with a clock. 

If we in the industry take care about the demand power, we can have lower electrical bill. The goal is to have more uniformly electrical power consumption. If we have needs for peaks in electrical power consumption, we must arrange peaks in different 15 minutes time intervals. I have tried to investigate how to lower demand power at my job.

Nice text about understanding demand and consumption.