Creating an infrared thermometer with a Wemos Mini and a MLX90614

In this example we will create a basic infrared thermometer using an MLX90614 and Wemos Mini (ESP8266) and an OLED

This was created basically of the current virus scare – not to make money but as hopefully a useful little electronic addition to check your temperature

Here is the human temperature range from Wikipedia

Normal human body temperature is the typical temperature range found in humans. The normal human body temperature range is typically stated as 36.5–37.5 °C. Human body temperature varies.
Normal: 36.5–37.5 °C (97.7–99.5 °F)
Fever: >37.5 or 38.3 °C (99.5 or 100.9 °F)
Hypothermia: <35.0 °C (95.0 °F)
Lets see what the manufacturer says about the sensor

The MLX90614 is an infrared thermometer for non-contact temperature measurements. Both the IR sensitive thermopile detector chip and the signal conditioning ASIC are integrated in the same TO-39 can. Integrated into the MLX90614 are a low noise amplifier, 17-bit ADC and powerful DSP unit thus achieving high accuracy and resolution of the thermometer.

The thermometer comes factory calibrated with a digital SMBus output giving full access to the measured temperature in the complete temperature range(s) with a resolution of 0.02°C.

The user can configure the digital output to be pulse width modulation (PWM). As a standard, the 10-bit PWM is configured to continuously transmit the measured temperature in range of -20 to 120°C, with an output resolution of 0.14°C.

Features

  • Factory calibrated in wide temperature range: -40 to 125°C for sensor temperature and -70 to 380°C for object temperature

  • High accuracy of 0.5°C over wide temperature range (0..+50 C for both Ta and To)

  • Medical accuracy of 0.1°C in a limited temperature range available on request

  • Measurement resolution of 0.02°C

Schematic

I connected an OLED shield to the Wemos Mini and the MLX90614 breakout to the oled shield

Wemos Mini MLX90614 breakout
3v3 Vin
GND Gnd
SDA SDA
SCL SCL

Parts Required

No affiliate links – this is information in the time of a health crisis where even the ability to create an accurate thermometer could be important. Not cashing in on this.

You can find these parts on many sites

ESP8266 – wemos mini
Wemos OLED shield – Amazon
MLX90614 breakout – Amazon search
Connecting wire – Amazon

Code example 1

This first example uses the Adafruit MLX90614 library  and is the default example. You can add the library using the Library manager in the arduino ide

[codesyntax lang=”cpp”]

#include <Wire.h>
#include <Adafruit_MLX90614.h>

Adafruit_MLX90614 mlx = Adafruit_MLX90614();

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);

  Serial.println("Adafruit MLX90614 test");  

  mlx.begin();  
}

void loop() {
  Serial.print("Ambient = "); Serial.print(mlx.readAmbientTempC()); 
  Serial.print("*C\tObject = "); Serial.print(mlx.readObjectTempC()); Serial.println("*C");
  Serial.print("Ambient = "); Serial.print(mlx.readAmbientTempF()); 
  Serial.print("*F\tObject = "); Serial.print(mlx.readObjectTempF()); Serial.println("*F");

  Serial.println();
  delay(500);
}

[/codesyntax]

Here is the output in the serial monitor

Ambient = 25.81*C Object = 25.11*C
Ambient = 78.46*F Object = 77.20*F

OLED Example

Now as you will have seen from the description we are ultimately trying to display the temperatures on an OLED

You need https://github.com/sparkfun/SparkFun_Micro_OLED_Arduino_Library

[codesyntax lang=”cpp”]

#include <Wire.h>  // Include Wire if you're using I2C
#include <SFE_MicroOLED.h>  // Include the SFE_MicroOLED library
#include <Adafruit_MLX90614.h>

#define DC_JUMPER 0  // I2C Addres: 0 - 0x3C, 1 - 0x3D
#define PIN_RESET 255 

Adafruit_MLX90614 mlx = Adafruit_MLX90614();
MicroOLED oled(PIN_RESET, DC_JUMPER); // Example I2C declaration

 
void setup() 
{
  Serial.begin(9600);
  mlx.begin();
  oled.begin();
  oled.clear(ALL);  // Clear the display's memory (gets rid of artifacts)
  oled.display();  
}
 
void loop() 
{
  // Wait a few seconds between measurements.
  delay(2000);

  oled.clear(PAGE); 
  oled.setFontType(0); // set font type 0, please see declaration in SFE_MicroOLED.cpp
  oled.setCursor(1, 3);
  oled.print("Ambient: ");
  oled.setCursor(1, 12);
  oled.print(mlx.readAmbientTempC());
  oled.print(" %\t");
  oled.setCursor(1, 21);
  oled.print("Object :");
  oled.setCursor(1, 30);
  oled.print(mlx.readObjectTempC());
  oled.print(" *C ");
  oled.display();  
}

[/codesyntax]

Here you can see the setup in action

You could design a box for this with an external power source, we will be looking at other sensors and other microcontrollers as well

Links

https://www.melexis.com/en/documents/documentation/datasheets/datasheet-mlx90614

 

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