See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: [Link]

net/publication/372569510

Automatic Fan Speed Controlled Laptop Cooling Pad System using

Microcontroller

Conference Paper · July 2023

CITATIONS READS

0 110

3 authors, including:

Indushan Senavirathna Buddhika Nuwarawewa

University of Jaffna University of Jaffna
2 PUBLICATIONS 0 CITATIONS 1 PUBLICATION 0 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Indushan Senavirathna on 24 July 2023.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Automatic Fan Speed Controlled Laptop Cooling
Pad System using Microcontroller
Indushan Senavirathna Ishara Mahanama Buddhika Nuwarawewa
Department of Electrical and Department of Electrical and Department of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Electronic Engineering,
University of Jaffna University of Jaffna University of Jaffna
Jaffna, Sri Lanka Jaffna, Sri Lanka Jaffna, Sri Lanka
prabhakanthaindushan@[Link] Isharamahanama1995@[Link] buddhikanuwarawewa1996@[Link]

Abstract— A human way of life increasingly relies on automatic The temperature of the room will be lowered to a specific
controls. The development of control techniques that boost system degree using the fan. LM 35 Temp Sensor is used to sense the
performance is the main goal of the large field of automatic control temperature. The LED will be turned on, value fan is switched
technology. The elimination of the human operator is the distinctive on when the room temperature sensed by the sensor crossed the
feature of automated control. The fan is one of these devices. The threshold. Until the temperature drops below the threshold, the
majority of fans come with speed controls, and the speed is adjusted fan will continue to run.
according to the situation. Typically, a fan is run at a lower speed
when the temperature is lower and at a higher speed when the The authors of [2] presented a Speed Control of Ceiling Fan
temperature is higher. This is carried out manually by people. The Using PWM Technique. This research proposes a novel
fan speed is advised to be automatically controlled in this study in method for controlling ceiling fan speed in relation to ambient
order to regulate a laptop's temperature. To automatically adjust the temperature and the number of people in the room. The
fan speed, a circuit comprising a brushless DC motor, DHT11 microcontroller PIC16F877A and optocoupler are utilized to
temperature sensor, Atmega328p microcontroller, and a few other regulate the fan speed. The temperature of the area, the motor's
electronic components is created and constructed. The temperature speed, and the number of people present in the room are all
and fan speed are shown on LCD as an extra function. The developed displayed on an LCD panel. The temperature sensor detects the
system circuit is then tested several times and operated flawlessly ambient temperature and changes the fan speed accordingly.
Keywords— Laptop cooling Pad, Atmega328p, DHT11, Fan The authors of [3] presented a Temperature Controlled DC
Speed, BLDC motor and circuit design. Fan using Microcontroller. The fundamental concept behind
this project is to activate the DC motor fan whenever the
temperature detected by the temperature sensor exceeds a
I. INTRODUCTION
certain threshold. In this project, an Arduino board was used
Electric fans are a widely used and popular electrical for USB-based microcontroller programming. The hex file is
device, thanks to their cost effectiveness and low power used by the microcontroller to run the program. The
consumption. They have been a common circuit for many microcontroller receives the output from the temperature
applications and continue to be available in the market. Fans sensor and sends it to the motor driver IC, which drives the
offer a sensible solution to create a comfortable and energy- motor. In this manner, the project's main goal is accomplished.
efficient environment. However, with the increasing demand
for accurate temperature control and air freshening, many The authors of [4] presented an Automatic Speed and Light
industries, including automotive, industrial, and office Intensity Control by Sensing Atmospheric Parameters. Another
buildings, have embraced the use of fan systems to maintain a research from explores as Arduino based project. It is aimed at
comfortable environment for their occupants. Achieving the controlling AC fan speed based on room temperature and
desired temperature and optimizing energy consumption is a displaying the parameters on 16x2 LCD display. This project
critical concern in heat-sensitive areas. The traditional manual utilizes the DHT22 sensor to sense temperature and humidity.
control method involves pressing a switch button to turn the And use TSL2561 sensor module to control LED bulb
fan on or off, and the fan speed remains constant regardless of intensity. The Arduino board is used for data processing and
temperature changes. Therefore, there is a need for automatic control. The review emphasizes the importance of energy
temperature control systems to regulate fan speed based on conservation and highlights the benefits of automatic fan speed
temperature changes. and light intensity control.
The authors of [5] presented an Automatic Fan Speed
A. Literature Review Control using Temperature and Humidity Sensor and Arduino.
Research studies have explored the application of automatic The literature paper presents a project that automatically
temperature control systems in various fields, offering control fan speed based on the surrounding environment by
numerous benefits. The authors of [1] presented a Design and utilizing Arduino, temperature sensor and humidity sensors.
Implementation of Automatic Room Temperature Controlled Here the DHT22 sensor is used to measure the temperature and
Fan using Arduino Uno and LM35 Heat Sensor. In this project, humidity, while Arduino board processes the data and adjusts
a DC fan control system based on room temperature is the fan speed using PWM technique. And LCD displays the
designed and simulated utilizing the PWM technology, temperature and fan speed. This project aimed to enhance
temperature sensor LM35, and Arduino Uno Microcontroller. comfort and eliminate manual fan speed control. Overall, the
project combines IoT concepts with temperature-based fan Atmega328P microcontroller, as illustrated by the pin diagram
speed control. in Fig. 2 [10].
More examples of such studies include Automatic
temperature controllers for multi-element array hyperthermia
systems [6], multi-loop automatic temperature control system
designs for fluid dynamics [7], automatic temperature control
circuit module designs for tunnel microwave heating systems
[8], and automatic temperature systems with Fuzzy self-
adaptive Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control in
semiconductor lasers [9].
The outstanding difference between the result in this
research and the others is that it has separately designed and
developed the Atmega328P circuit board using 2 DHT11
sensors to get the average temperature reading to vary the
speed of the motor accordingly and indicate the real time
temperature and fan speed in the LCD. This paper aims to Fig. 2. Pin diagram of Atmega328p
demonstrate how Atmega328p microcontrollers can be
practically utilized in a real-world application. One such
application involves integrating a microcontroller in a
temperature control system that automatically regulates B. Power Supply
surrounding temperature. PS-5161-1D1 power supply is a component designed to
provide reliable and stable power.

II. FAN SPEED CONTROL SYSTEM COMPONENTS .

The Atmega328p microcontroller serves as the central
component of the temperature control system, receiving inputs
from the temperature sensor, DHT11, which measures the
current room temperature. Based on this data, the controller
determines the required fan speed to maintain the desired
temperature. The LCD is utilized to display both the fan speed
and the current room temperature. A diagram of the fan speed
controlled laptop cooling system is shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3. Power supply

power supply has an AC voltage input range of 100-240V,

making it compatible with a wide range of power outlets
worldwide. It operates at a frequency of 50-60Hz and
consumes a maximum power of 3.5A at 115V AC or 2A at
230V AC.
In terms of output voltage, PS-5161-1D1 power supply
Fig. 1. Block diagram of the fan speed controlled laptop cooling system provides +5V, +12V, -12V, and +3.3V DC voltage rails. The
+5V rail provides a maximum output of 14A, the +12V rail
provides a maximum output of 12A, the -12V rail provides a
A. Atmega328p Microcontroller maximum output of 0.3A, and the +3.3V rail provides a
A microcontroller is a computer control system that is maximum output of 8A.
integrated onto a single chip. It contains several electronic It's worth noting that the power supply is designed to
circuits capable of decoding written instructions and automatically adjust its output voltage and current based on the
converting them into electrical signals. The microcontroller power draw of the connected components, ensuring a stable
then executes these instructions one by one. Here a and efficient power supply
microcontroller has used to control the fan speed according to
the temperature of the room. Microcontrollers have C. Temperature Sensor (DHT11)
revolutionized electronic designs, replacing the need to
The DHT11 Temperature and Humidity Sensor is equipped
hardwire several logic gates to perform a specific function. with a temperature and humidity sensor complex that produces
Instead, we now use instructions to electronically connect the a calibrated digital signal output. It utilizes a digital signal
gates. The set of instructions provided to the microcontroller is acquisition technique to sense temperature and humidity to
known as a program. There are various types of guarantee high reliability and exceptional long-term stability.
microcontrollers, but this research focuses solely on the
 The DHT11 sensor is designed to provide accurate
temperature and humidity measurements, with a temperature
measurement range of 0 to 50 degrees Celsius and a humidity
measurement range of 20% to 90% relative humidity. The
DHT11 Temperature and Humidity Sensor employs a Negative
Temperature Coefficient (NTC) thermistor to measure
temperature, which exhibits a decrease in resistance value with
an increase in temperature. This sensor is typically composed
of semiconductor ceramics or polymers to obtain a larger
resistance value for even the smallest change in temperature.
[11]
The DHT11 sensor communicates with microcontrollers
such as Arduino through a single-wire digital interface, using a
simple protocol to transmit the measured data. It requires a 5V
power supply and can operate at a low power consumption of
less than 5mA. Pin diagram is illustrated in Fig. 4 [11]. Fig. 6. BLDC Motor

The rotor is the rotating part of the motor, and in a BLDC

motor, it is made of a circular core with alternate North (N) and
South (S) poles over a permanent magnet. As BLDC fans use
permanent magnets, their rotors are lighter than those of
conventional DC fans, making them suitable for cooling fan
applications in laptops and desktop computers. Hall sensors are
used to detect the position of the rotor by detecting the south
and north poles. Based on this information, the exact
commutation sequence is determined, which is important in
rotating BLDC motors as they use electronically controlled
commutation [13].

E. Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)

Fig. 4. Temperature sensor DHT11 This component (LCD - Liquid Crystal Display) is
specifically manufactured to be used with microcontrollers,
D. Brushless DC Motor which means that it cannot be activated by standard IC circuits.
Brushless DC (BLDC) motors are electronically It is made to display different messages on a miniature liquid
commutated motors that do not utilize brushes, hence the name crystal display. It can display messages in two lines with 16
brushless DC motor. These motors offer superior speed versus characters in each line. Also it can display all the types of
torque characteristics, operate quietly, and exhibit higher letters of the alphabet, punctuation marks, mathematical
efficiency compared to brushed DC motors. The magnetic symbols, Greek letters, and more. Fig. 7 illustrates the LCD (2
fields generated by both the stator and rotor have the same x 16 characters) and its connection [14].
frequency, making BLDC motors synchronous motors. A
transverse section of a BLDC motor is depicted in Fig. 5.

Fig. 5. Transverse section of BLDC motor

BLDC motors are composed of two primary components:

the stator and the rotor. Some BLDC motors also include hall Fig. 7. LCD
sensors. Compared to other types of fans, BLDC fans do not
experience issues associated with sparking, brush wear, or
electromagnetic interference (EMI) because they use electronic
commutation [12]. The BLDC fan used for this research is
shown in Fig. 6.
F. Motor Driver Module (L298N)
The L298N module is a type of motor driver board
commonly used in robotics and other projects that require
precise control of DC motors. It consists of an L298N dual H-
bridge chip, which is capable of driving two DC motors
simultaneously. The L298N module allows for bidirectional
control of the motor speed and direction, as well as protection
against over-current and over-temperature conditions.
It accepts a wide range of input voltages, from 7V to 35V,
and can deliver a continuous current of up to 2A per channel,
with a peak current of up to 3A per channel. The module
features four input pins for controlling the motor speed and
direction, as well as four output pins for connecting the motors.
The L298N module can be controlled by microcontrollers Fig. 9. Schematic circuit diagram of the fan speed control system
such as Arduino, Raspberry Pi, or other similar devices, using
pulse-width modulation (PWM) signals to control the motor
speed and direction. The module also includes a built-in In this project, the Atmega328p microcontroller is used to
voltage regulator that provides a stable 5V output to power control the speed of the fan according to the laptop
other components on the board. temperature. The voltage from the mains (220/240V AC) is
converted to 12V DC and 5V DC by the power supply, and
Overall, the L298N module provides a simple and efficient then the. The DHT11 temperature sensor is used to measure
way to control the speed and direction of DC motors in various the changes in the surrounding temperature. All operations are
projects, with its bidirectional control, over-current and over- controlled by the Atmega328p to produce the output. The
temperature protection, and compatibility with a wide range of LCD and fan are the outputs where they are set with the
input voltages and microcontrollers. Fig. 8 illustrates L298N
pseudo code of Atmega328p. The LCD is used to measure and
Motor Driver Module and its connections [15]
display the changes in the temperature value.
As a working principle, the temperature sensor senses
the temperature and displays it on the LCD. The speed of the
fan is controlled according to the PWM technique for the
temperature change. For processing analog signals, the
Atmega328p microcontroller has an analog to digital
converter, which converts analog signals to digital ones.
The DHT11 gives 1 bit for each 1°C change in the
temperature; this value is a digital value and does not need to
be converted. Any change in the temperature will be sent to
the Atmega328p via the DHT11 sensor. The microcontroller
(Atmega328p) has an inbuilt PWM module, which is used to
control the speed of the fan by varying the duty cycle.
According to the temperature sensor readings, the duty cycle
changes while controlling the fan speed. The PWM signal is
sent via pin 9 (PB1) in port B to the L298N motor driver,
which controls the voltage across the motor.
Fig. 8. Motor Driver Module L298N
Crystal oscillator is connected to pins 9 (PB6) and 10
(PB7) of Atmega328p, which are pins to provide external
clock to the microcontroller. A 0.1 μF bypass capacitor is used
on the output pin +5 V of the voltage regulator to smooth out
III. FAN SPEED CONTROL SYSTEM CIRCUIT the supply voltage to the microcontroller and LCD. The Vout
DESIGN pin of the temperature sensor DHT11 is connected on pin 23
(PC0) which is ADC0 of all ADC input pins. Pins from 16 to
The section describes the method of controlling the speed of 21 are connected to remaining LCD pins used for data and
the fan with the change in room temperature using a PWM control signals between LCD and microcontroller.
output from the microcontroller. The system uses a schematic The PWM output is given to the enable pins of the
circuit diagram, as shown in Figure 8, to control the speed of L298N motor driver from the Atmega328p. The L298N motor
the fan. driver controls the voltage across the motor. When the enable
pin is high, the motor starts to gain speed, and when the enable
pin is low, the motor loses speed. The hardware circuits that
have been designed for the controlled fan speed system in this
project, which consists of the DHT11, Atmega328p
microcontroller, BLDC motor, and LCD as shown in Fig. 10,
which also include the crystal circuit.

Fig. 11. Hardware calibration process

The fan speed control system using Atmega328p

microcontroller, DHT11 temperature sensor, and L298N motor
driver was successfully designed and implemented. The system
is capable of controlling the speed of a DC fan based on the
temperature variation of the laptop.
The temperature sensor was used to measure the changes in
the laptop temperature and displayed it on the LCD screen. The
Atmega328p microcontroller was used to process the digital
signals from the DHT11 temperature sensor. The PWM output
signal from the microcontroller was used to control the speed
of the fan by varying the duty cycle.
The motor driver used in this project was the L298N, which
is a dual H-bridge driver that can control the direction and
speed of two DC motors. The L298N motor driver was used to
Fig. 10. Hardware circuit of the fan speed controlled laptop cooling system
control the speed of the fan by varying the voltage across it.
The system was tested by varying the temperature of the
room and observing the changes in the fan speed. The fan
IV. RESULT AND DISCUSSION speed increased as the temperature increased and decreased as
the temperature decreased. This demonstrated that the system
Since the calibration process maintains accuracy while was able to control the speed of the fan based on the
assuring reliable benchmarks and results of the research temperature variation of the laptop. Final prototype of the
project. Used an external temperature sensor (thermometer) to system is shown in Fig 12.
gauge the laptop temperature while working with the laptop.
The calibration process was done in different times as shown in
Fig. 11, which can be summarized in Table I.

TABLE I. CALIBRATION PROCESS

Calibration Temperature Fan
Time Thermometer Speed
No: from LCD
1 1.00 29°C 28.6°C 580 rpm

2 1.10 31°C 30.8°C 620 rpm

3 1.20 33°C 32.7°C 660 rpm

4 1.30 34°C 33.8°C 680 rpm

Fig. 12. Final prototype

 REFERENCES Transport Delays,” IEEE IRE Transactions on Automatic Control, pp.
81-96, 1959
[8] Zungeru, A.M. et al. (2018) “Design and simulation of an automatic
room heater control system,” Heliyon, 4(6). Available at:
[Link]
[1] Othman, W.A.F.W. (n.d.). Design and Implementation of Automatic
Room Temperature Controlled Fan using Arduino Uno and LM35 Heat [9] Z. Huai-quan and L. Qian, "The automatic temperature system with
Sensor. International Journal of Engineering Creativity & Innovation. fuzzy self-adaptive PID control in semiconductor laser," 2009 IEEE
[online]Availableat:[Link] International Conference on Automation and Logistics, Shenyang,
mplementation_of_Automatic_Room_Temperature_Controlled_Fan_usi China, 2009, pp. 1691-1694, doi: 10.1109/ICAL.2009.5262694.
ng_Arduino_Uno_and_LM35_Heat_Sensor. [10] ATMEGA328P microcontroller (no date) Components101. Available at:
[2] Shivesh, Mishra, R. and Elisabeth, E.A. (2017). Speed control of ceiling [Link]
fan using PWM technique. [online] IEEE Xplore. features-datasheet (Accessed: November 8, 2022).
doi:[Link] [11] DHT11 humidity & temperature sensor - mouser electronics (no
[3] Soren, G.S. and Gupta, R.A. (n.d.). Temperature Controlled DC Fan date). Available at: [Link]
using Microcontroller. [online] Available at: [Link] (Accessed:
[Link] November 7, 2022).
[Link]. [12] Microchip, Brushless DC (BLDC) Motor Fundamentals, pp 1-18, July
[4] More, N., Chavan, S., Mohite, R., Patil, A. and Patil, S. (2022). 2023.
Automatic Speed and Light Intensity Control by Sensing [13] Gamazo-Real, Jose-Carlos & Vázquez-Sánchez, Ernesto & Gomez-Gil,
Atmospheric Parameters. [online] Available at: Jaime. (2010). Position and Speed Control of Brushless DC Motors
[Link] Using Sensorless Techniques and Application Trends. Sensors. 10.
I3_13.pdf 10.3390/s100706901.
[5] Kaushik, S. et al. (no date) Automatic Fan Speed Control using [14] Data sheet, 16 x 2 Character LCD, Vishay
Temperature and Humidity Sensor and Arduino, 4(2). Available at: [15] Admin (2020) Introduction to L298N motor driver: How it's work "
[Link] Electroduino, ElectroDuino. Available at:
[6] Johnson JE, Maccarini PF, Neuman D, Stauffer PR. Automatic [Link]
temperature controller for multielement array hyperthermia systems. its-work/ (Accessed: November 7, 2022).
IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2006 Jun;53(6):1006-15. doi:
10.1109/TBME.2006.873559. PMID: 16761827.
[7] G.J. Fiedler, J. Landy, “Multi-loop Automatic Temperature Control
System Design for Fluid Dynamics Facility Having Several Long

View publication stats