Automatic body temperature control system for small animal studies using dual mode PI control

Body temperature regulation of an experimental animal is important because anesthesia reduces the body temperature and deteriorates the physiological condition of the animal. We have developed an automatic body temperature control system based on a microcontroller (80C196KC) with a dual mode proportional integral (PI) control algorithm where two different sets of PI gain coefficients were used depending on the response state. The developed system also provides user interface through an LCD display and two push button inputs and PC interface through RS-232 serial communication protocol. Through in-vitro and in-vivo tests, we were able to maintain the temperature of the target object within the range /spl plusmn/0.3/spl deg/C of the set point temperature.