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Honeywell, a manufacturer of one of the most comprehensive lines of load, pressure, and torque sensors, and National Instruments are working together to provide an easier and smarter sensor measurement experience. Test systems designed with NI instrumentation and Honeywell sensors will offer several benefits, including tool-free connectivity, onboard sensor and calibration information through transducer electronic data sheet (TEDS) technology, and several bus communication options.
Tool-Free Connectivity
Honeywell offers a connectivity option for several of their sensors that you can use to connect directly to the NI 9237 simultaneous bridge module for an easy, out-of-the-box experience that requires no tools. The NI 9237 module uses RJ50 connectors as a way to quickly connect a 10-pin sensor without needing to connect individual wires via screw terminals. The 10 pins include five signal pairs for excitation, TEDS communication, shunt calibration, remote sense, and the measurement. Honeywell sensors with the NI connectivity option not only use the same RJ50 connector, but have the proper pin assignments to communicate with the NI 9237 module. The RJ50 connector also has the benefit of a latched connection similar to that of Ethernet cables.
Shorten Setup Time with TEDS
Setting up a Wheatstone bridge-based transducer, such as a load, pressure, or torque sensor, requires several inputs from the data sheet. These inputs, such as sensitivity and gage resistance, allow the instrumentation and software to properly convert the output voltage from the sensor into engineering units. Several Honeywell sensors have the option of coming with a pre-installed TEDS chip. The TEDS chip stores all of the setup information from the data sheet using an IEEE standardized template. With the information on the physical sensor, TEDS-compatible instrumentation can communicate directly with the sensor and perform the setup programmatically. Not only is setup faster and easier, but the templates have a standard location for calibration information, so TEDS-compatible software can automatically scale from calibration tables or polynomial functions found on the TEDS chip. With the data stored on the sensor, lost data sheets are no longer a showstopping problem. The TEDS template even includes a “user section” that you can program to store custom data that you can access at anytime from TEDS-enabled software.
Video: TEDS technology stores setup information with the sensor.
NI TEDS software compatibility is in the driver layer, which means that you can set up a TEDS sensor with or without a full test software application. This is useful for taking quick measurements through a test panel or for debugging installed test systems. The driver support for TEDS also means that you can program for TEDS with several programming languages, including NI LabVIEW graphical system design software, LabWindowsTM/CVI, Microsoft Visual Studio, C, C++, C#, and .NET.
Deploy as USB, Ethernet, Wireless, or Embedded
The NI 9237 bridge-based measurement module is part of the C Series family of hardware, and as such has several options for system deployment. Single-module carriers are available for USB, Ethernet, or wireless communication back to a PC. You can switch the same module between the different carriers to help satisfy the diverse needs of different projects. With four channels per module, the single module carriers are ideal for lower-channel-count systems that need to be small and portable.
For larger systems, NI CompactDAQ offers two USB chassis that support the NI 9237 module. You can use the four- and eight-slot NI CompactDAQ chassis to install multiple NI 9237 modules, creating higher-channel-count load, pressure, and torque systems. Or, you can install the NI 9237 module alongside any of the more than 50 C Series measurement modules available to create a mixed-sensor test system that can measure voltage, current, temperature, sound, vibration, power, or digital signals.
Finally, for deployment without a PC, the NI CompactRIO chassis support up to eight modules and have a built-in processor, memory, and storage space designed to run a LabVIEW program locally to create rugged test, monitoring, and control systems. With this modular, flexible hardware system, you can deploy Honeywell load, pressure, and torque sensors in a wide variety of applications and over several different buses for communication.
Figure 1. Deploy with NI CompactDAQ hardware for a mixed-measurement test system.
NI designed C Series modules to combine signal conditioning, analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), and signal connectivity into a single compact device. The NI 9237 module has four 24-bit ADCs that can sample at up to 50 kS/s each. This ADC technology enables waveform measurement for dynamic signals, as well as oversampling and averaging for more accurate DC measurements. Antialias filters on the module ensure that high-frequency noise does not interfere with the measurements you are taking.
Flexible Solutions for Test
Honeywell’s sensing portfolio includes load cells, pressure transducers, and torque transducers, all of which come in a variety of form factors for just about any application you need. These applications require sensors ranging from those for general test and measurement to ones that must meet harsh and demanding conditions. A system that incorporates these Honeywell sensors with instrumentation from National Instruments is flexible and easier to set up, so you can spend more time testing.
Configure and price a measurement system for load, pressure, and torque.
Brett Burger is the product marketing manager responsible for product management and strategy of C Series USB DAQ at National Instruments. Burger started his career at NI in 2003 in the Applications Engineering department. There, he served as a team leader and provided technical support for LabVIEW as well as National Instruments top accounts. Burger received his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University.
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A complete work
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