subject: Digital Thermostat With Single Rotary Encoder Switch [print this page] Digital thermostat with single rotary encoder switch A digital thermostat includes a microcontroller and a single rotary encoder switch having an adjusting shaft and a knob connected to the shaft. The shaft of the switch is rotatable by the knob to a plurality of discrete angular positions, each of which enables the switch to provide a unique signal to the microcontroller.. For many years, room thermostat for controlling heating and/or cooling apparatus have incorporated a bi-metal sensitive to room temperature, a switching means carried by the bi-metal, which switching means controls operation of the heating and/or cooling apparatus, and a lever or knob mechanically linked to the bi-metal. Associated with the lever or knob is some type of temperature indexing means. In recent years, a wide variety of thermostats have been developed which have the capability of being programmed by the user to provide a time-temperature schedule whereby the floor heating thermostat will automatically control room temperature at different set point temperatures during different time periods of the day and week. Many of such programmable thermostats incorporate a microcontroller which provides digital logic. The microcontroller provides a cost-effective means for implementing the desired functions of such thermostats. The microcontroller, primarily because of its digital logic, also enables such thermostats to provide more accurate and reliable control of room temperature than can generally be achieved by the aforementioned bi-metal type. While such programmable thermostat have been widely accepted in the marketplace, there still remains a segment of homeowners who, while desirous of the accuracy and reliability in controlling room temperature due to the use of a microcontroller in such thermostats, prefer a thermostat in which the set point temperature can be adjusted manually, and in a simple manner, for example, similar to that used in the aforementioned bi-metal types, instead of it being adjusted automatically in accordance with a programmed time-temperature schedule. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a digital thermostat utilizing a microcontroller so as to implement the accuracy and reliability provided by the microcontroller, and utilizing a simple, easy-to-understand means for establishing a desired set point temperature.
