Saturday, September 23, 2006, 09:02 PM
Saturday was a great workday for the Computer team. We set out and accomplished the following:
Load Cell hookup and testing
o We made a connector for the load cell out of Bondo. (New matting connectors cost $15 each, so we went the Bondo route)
o We were able to hookup and read data, it was noisy data but when applying pressure to the load cell we did see the data change. We need to do further testing next week. We will use preset weights (10, 25, 50lbs) so that we will know what weight is applied and finish off the testing of that sensor
o With respect to the noise we were seeing, we're probably going to have to play a lot more with the filters and learn how to get rid of some of that ratty data. That should be a nice challenge.
Setup computers
o We tried to activate the new LabVIEW 8.2... but since we don't have internet connection it looks like we may have to do it manually by calling National Instruments for the activation code. In the mean time we can continue to use LabView 8.0
o We moved one data acq card to the other computer so we can use two computers for sensor testing. Later we will move that card back into our single data acq machine
Ignitor testing
o We hooked up the ignitor and were able to successfully actuate the 2 valves and the ignition spark via the high voltage source. At first there was a short somewhere and luckily we tracked it down to some of our other 'unused' wires. They were touching each other causing the short in the system, we learned some good debugging techniques.
o We did a lot of testing with the ignitor but we're going to have to do more. It must be 100% reliable
Pneumatic Solenoid testing
o We hooked up a solenoid 'switch' that allows us to apply Pneumatic pressure to a device. Looks like we may be going with valves that are actuated via pneumatics. We'll used 12 or 24Vdc to energize a solenoid that will pass air pressure to a valve which will turn the valves on, removing energy from the solenoid will cause the air pressure to be purged.
o We were successful in controlling the solenoid. We now have to wait until the final valves are acquired and determine how to control them.
Our new team members spent time learning about LabView, this will continue over the next month.
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Tuesday, September 19, 2006, 08:54 PM
Today we had a one-hour tag up at the new ASA facility to get everyone up to date on what we’re doing and where we’re going. Some time was spent organizing our work area and upgrading the computers to LabVIEW 8.2. We look forward to a long workday on Saturday.| permalink
Saturday, July 1, 2006, 08:46 PM
Due to the test facilities not being ready we decided to give the students the rest of the summer off. We'll be starting back up again in September right after school starts. We're very hopeful that the road to the test stand will be in place by then.| permalink
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