Test rig - I/O board.

[Cadbhoy]

Hi,

I've been threw in at the deep end. I have a bunch of single phase motors (1kw) to test. I'm looking at putting together a test rig to do a basic life test. Start/Stop cycles to begin with.

Can anyone suggest some good I/O board kit that I can hook up to a PC to do this? Only thing I can find I'd need to write software for (comes with a .DLL file that you can throw visual basic at I believe). Ideally I'd like something that comes with software to control the outputs.

I'm in the UK btw but would buy kit through the net no probs.

cheers
Cadbhoy

 

[ScottyUK]

A small PLC or one of the bigger smart relays would probably do the job although it would be stand-alone rather than from the PC. You could use the PC to program it initially. The Siemens Logo! range is excellent: simple to configure, reliable, relatively low cost. It's a long time since I used one, and it looks more capable now than it was then. Available from the likes of RS Components for example:

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/...)&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&N=4294954923&Nty=1

You'll need to add some higher power switching capability to the output of the controller to allow it to switch the motor. A suitably sized contactor and overload relay would be the normal choice.

If you really want to use the PC have a look at Amplicon's website for some examples of industrial I/O for the PC.

http://www.amplicon.co.uk

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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!

 

[Cadbhoy]

Cheers Scotty.

Decide to go for a USB I/O setup "Labjack" from

http://www.audon.co.uk.

cheers

 

[FreddyNurk]

Looks like you've sorted yourself out for the equipment, but I'd suspect that you could also use Labview, plus an appropriate hardware interface to do a similar task. The graphical interface can be handy for development at times.

 

[Skogsgurra]

A slight warning.

The LabJack has TTL/CMOS outputs, so you will need to do the TT-contactor interface yourself. If you do not have the necessary experience, you will be back on square one. More or less.

Swiching motors usually means that transients are produced (small motors like your 1 kW are not less interference prone than larger ones) and my experience with the LabJack is that it is not designed to work very well in such an environment. Unmanned continuous testing will probably be interrupted by the transients making the PC stall or reboot.

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

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