Temperature Sensor Sculpture

Overview

This project was inspired by Mohit Bhoite's Sculptures. I started out with these circuit sculptures by following Jiří Praus's LED Jewelry Instructable.

After a semi-functional result (more on that later), I decided to try something a little bigger, specifically a little desk thermometer shaped like a vintage TV (the ones that were low to the ground and massive). While my sculpting skills have room to improve I think it came out pretty good, and it functions as it should.

The code for this project can be found here.

The Parts

The brains of this project is the MC9S08QD4 microprocessor. I programmed it using the CodeWarrior IDE and Processor expert.

I harvested an TM1637-based display (which most 7 segment display modules use), and wrote this library to interface with it.

I also used a cheap temperature sensing module I had lying around to sense temperature.

Other than that I just used some brass wire I had lying around.

What I Learned

Two interesting things I found out while making this project: 1. Resistance based temperature sensors don't give linear values, but rather a logarithmic-looking output. 2. Brass wire is often coated in a lacquer or some kind. If you're doing something like this, SAND YOUR WIRE FIRST. Otherwise, soldering to it sucks.

This was also my first time writing a library for embedded devices (I think), so I also learned to do that during this project.