Modular Open-Source Design of Pyrolysis Reactor Monitoring and Control Electronics

Broadly Reconfigurable and Expandable Automation Device (BREAD)

Publication data
Type	Paper
Title	Modular Open-Source Design of Pyrolysis Reactor Monitoring and Control Electronics
Description
Authors
Year	2023
Language	English (en)
License	CC-BY-SA-4.0
Cite as	Hafting, F.K.; Kulas, D.; Michels, E.; Chipkar, S.; Wisniewski, S.; Shonnard, D.; Pearce, J.M. Modular Open-Source Design of Pyrolysis Reactor Monitoring and Control Electronics. Electronics 2023, 12, 4893. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12244893. Academia.edu preprint

Project data
Type
Authors	Finn Hafting Daniel Kulas Etienne Michels Sarvada Chipkar Stefan Wisniewski David Shonnard J.M.User:J.M.Pearce
Location	London, ON, Canada
Status	Designed Modelled Prototyped Verified
Verified by	FAST
Years
Uses	3D Printing
Links	https://osf.io/3ugbn/
OKH Manifest	Download

Device data
Assembly instructions	https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12244893
Design files	https://osf.io/3ugbn/
Hardware license	CERN-OHL-S
Certifications	Start OSHWA certification

Industrial pilot projects often rely on proprietary and expensive electronic hardware to control and monitor experiments. This raises costs and retards innovation. Open-source hardware tools exist for implementing these processes individually; however, they are not easily integrated with other designs. The Broadly Reconfigurable and Expandable Automation Device (BREAD) is a framework that provides many open-source devices which can be connected to create more complex data acquisition and control systems. This article explores the feasibility of using BREAD plug-and-play open hardware to quickly design and test monitoring and control electronics for an industrial materials processing prototype pyrolysis reactor. Generally, pilot-scale pyrolysis plants are expensive custom designed systems. The plug-and-play prototype approach was first tested by connecting it to the pyrolysis reactor and ensuring that it can measure temperature and actuate heaters and a stirring motor. Next, a single circuit board system was created and tested using the designs from the BREAD prototype to reduce the number of microcontrollers required. Both open-source control systems were capable of reliably running the pyrolysis reactor continuously, achieving equivalent performance to a state-of-the-art commercial controller with a ten-fold reduction in the overall cost of control. Open-source, plug-and-play hardware provides a reliable avenue for researchers to quickly develop data acquisition and control electronics for industrial-scale experiments.

Page data
Keywords	open source hardware, open hardware, open-source electronics, automation, Arduino, automation, pyrolysis, controls, monitoring, distributed manufacturing, laboratory equipment, open source, Data Acquisition, Automation Framework, Measurement Systems, Low Cost Alternative
SDG	SDG09 Industry innovation and infrastructure
Authors	Joshua M. Pearce
License	CC-BY-SA-4.0
Organizations	FAST, Western
Language	English (en)
Translations	Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese
Related	3 subpages, 15 pages link here
Views	88 page views (analytics)
Created	December 5, 2023 by Joshua M. Pearce
Last edit	March 23, 2025 by Joshua M. Pearce
Cite as	Joshua M. Pearce (2023–2025). "Modular Open-Source Design of Pyrolysis Reactor Monitoring and Control Electronics". Appropedia. Retrieved June 24, 2026.
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