Planar lipid bilayers are an extremely simple but good cell membrane model for studying electric field exposure. Due to the nature of lipid molecules and their formation into different crystal structures, temperature has an important influence on experiments with planar lipid bilayers.
A Thermocube chiller is used to regulate the temperature and uses the RS-232 serial protocol for communication. The thermoelectric recirculating chiller has various operating options and thus also communication methods.
A Raspberry Pi minicomputer is used to communicate with chiller and thermocouple as temperature sensor. For that purpose we wrote a simple program for serial communication with the chiller and the thermocouple.
The thesis describes the course of development of the temperature control system for planar lipid bilayers. Therefore, communication protocols, program development and operation of the Thermocube chiller and thermocouple are described.
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