Temperature Control of a Thermal Plasma Torch with Inductive Coupling Using the Arduino Board

Plasma torch is a device that transforms electrical energy into heat carried by a gas and its safe operation is necessary to control her temperature. This paper presents the use of the Arduino board in temperature control of a plasma torch through fuzzy control. The plasma torch of this project was built so that a flow of water can circulate through your body, allowing its cooling. The cooling system mounted consists of one radiator, one expansion vase, one water pump and one temperature sensor. The heated water coming the plasma torch is passed by the temperature sensor. This is converted in a voltage and read by an analog input port of the Arduino. This processes the information received and makes the decision to turn on/off the radiator fan and/or powered the frequency inverter water pump to control the temperature. The graph of the fuzzy control showed an oscillation between 104 °F to 122 °F around the chosen reference 113 °F. The results show that it is possible to control the temperature of a plasma torch using the Arduino board and fuzzy logic.