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ADC measurement and recording

  • 25-09-2014 5:28pm
    #1
    Cerberus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 310 ✭✭


    Hi,
    Apologies to begin with, I'm not an engineer so my question will probably sound stupid.

    My friend is building a heavy duty machine that will have a large reel on it that will revolve during it's operation. He wants to be able to measure the revolutions of the reel as it works (dispensing pipe for example)and then record this motion digitally. He then either wants to be able to print off the output of the recording at the machine or somehow transfer it on to something that can print it out (e.g. normal desktop).

    He's installing a transducer (an ADC as my limit knowledge thinks of it) that can convert the analog revolving motion of the reel into a digital signal that some measuring device can pick up.

    What he's looking for is advice on who to look to in Ireland to advise on how to measure this signal, record it and print it out. Could someone be able to give me some pointers on who he could turn to start a conversation with? If it was located in the west, all the better, but Dublin, Galway or the north are also good. To be clear, he's looking for someone to do this work for him, rather than how to do it himself.

    I'm sure this kind of question has been asked before but my problem is that I don't understand the terminology well enough in order to be able to create a sufficiently accurate search phrase either on these forums or the Google machine.

    Thanks in advance.


Comments

  • #2
    Turbulent Bill
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,638 ✭✭✭Turbulent Bill


    The supplier of the transducer should be able to provide some application support, or configure a system for the task. Might need minimal DIY or an electrician to complete.

    Even a simple bike computer could work. Magnet on the moving reel, sensor fixed to the hub. Easy to convert the reported 'distance' into revs.


  • #3
    DublinDilbert
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,401 ✭✭✭DublinDilbert


    He would be better off using a digital encoder or resolver.

    How accurately does he need to measure the revolutions? Does he just want to know how many RPM or want to do very accurate control at different points as the unit turns?

    There's lots of way's to solve this problem, i probably wouldn't use an analog sensor.

    Is there a secondary object which he could use to pick up the revolutions, for example if there's a fan on the motor driving this reel he might be able to pick up the fins on the fan with an indcutive or optical sensor. Is there teeth on a gear that could be measured/counted?

    Lots of ways to do the sensing, then you could just run it into a PC with a Data Acquisition card, NI USB6008 is about €150. you could write a labview front end for it. Or you could use an arduino to pick up the data from the encoder and send to a PC. The PC could then graph the data for him (meguno would do this out of the box). There's lots of different solutions.

    To be honest its a very small job, if he's got the sensing figured out, logging data to a PC could be less than 2 days work. it would be a perfect college project, he could try contact his local institute of technology and see if a student would do it. If he's trading as a company he could get this done under an innovation voucher.


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