Temperature control

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Temperature control is a process in which change of temperature of a space (and objects collectively there within), or of a substance, is measured or otherwise detected, and the passage of heat energy into or out of the space or substance is adjusted to achieve a desired temperature.

Control loops

A home

, which is the form usually seen in industrial settings.

Energy balance

An object's or space's temperature increases when heat energy moves into it, increasing the average kinetic energy of its atoms, e.g., of things and air in a room. Heat energy leaving an object or space lowers its temperature. Heat flows from one place to another (always from a higher temperature to a lower one) by up to three processes:

). In radiation, the heated atoms make electromagnetic emissions absorbed by remote other atoms, whether nearby or at astronomical distance. For example, the sun radiates heat as both invisible and visible electromagnetic energy. What we know as "light" is but a narrow region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

If, in a place or thing, more energy is received than is lost, its temperature increases. If the amount of energy coming in and going out are exactly the same, the temperature stays constant—there is thermal balance, or thermal equilibrium.

See also

• Heat exchanger
• Moving bed heat exchanger
• Thermal Control System
• Thermodynamic equilibrium
• Industrial automation
• Spacecraft thermal control

External links

• Media related to Temperature control at Wikimedia Commons
• Article about PID control by Bob Pease (from archive.org) [1]