This repository is made with the intent of using a webcam to read the display data of a MHP30 heat plate. Although its original intent is to tune the PID controller of the heat plate, it can be used for any other purpose that requires reading the display data of the heat plate.
All the requirements are in the environment.yml and in the requirements.txt files.
To use the program, you need to run the main.py file with the parameters as follows:
python main.py <P> <I> <D> <setpoint>Where:
P: Proportional gain of the PID controller.I: Integral gain of the PID controller.D: Derivative gain of the PID controller.setpoint: The desired temperature of the heat plate.
The program will record data to the experiments folder with the name <P>_<I>_<D>/<setpoint>.csv as
long as the program is running.
The structure of the data is as follows:
<P>,<I>,<D>
Timestamp,Temperature,Setpoint
...
...
...
where the ... imply rows of data.
Make sure that the only text in the image is from the heat plate (this might include the text "MHP30" printed on the
heat plate). The program uses the easyocr to read the text from the image, and it might read other text if
it is present in the image. In that case the program might not work as intended.
It has been noted that a good focus will improve the performance of the program. The program will work with a blurry image, but it will not be as accurate as with a focused image. The problem with the blurry image is that it might give numbers that the program will consider garbage data, and will discard, which will have the consequence of a drop in the sampling time of it.