Culverson Software-Custom DAQ Software labVIEW » Best Works

Web Deflection Mapping Software

Jim — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:07:11 +0000

Operators of large industrial engines are able to measure the deflection of a single segment of a crankshaft (known as a web) to determine that web’s stress on the shaft. Unfortunately the operators that contracted us for this program were unable to assess the cumulative stress of multiple webs on a single shaft.

Based on a unifying equation, our program allows users to compile multiple web deflection measurements into a complete and easy to understand picture of the crank shaft’s shape and motion.

Using this program has helped many operators prevent crankshaft breakage (a costly occurrence) by focusing their maintenance dollars on the units showing the worst distortion.

MainThe main window shows a diagram that the user can manipulate to indicate throw and bearing positions, and miscellaneous input parameters.

For each throw on the crankshaft, the user enters readings of web deflection and the program calculates the path taken by the web as it rotates.

This is a graph of the bearing displacements, shown as deviations from a straight line.

By recording the bearing displacements over time, an animation can be displayed, alerting the user to possibly dangerous trends.

Using the calculated displacements, a 3-D graph can be constructed to clearly indicate physical deformation of the shaft. The user can view the deformed shaft from any angle.

Acoustic Modeling Software

Jim — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:49:24 +0000

A section of 6 full-time technicians was simulating compressor-piping interaction using a huge number of electronic components (capacitors, inductors, etc.) to predict where acoustical resonances could cause structural failures. This labor-intensive technique took a team of two people two weeks to assemble the model, run the initial simulation, revise the model, run the revised simulations, disassemble the model, and manually prepare a report.

By digitizing the entire process, it now takes a single person two days to complete a job with multiple revisions, and generate a finished report.

The Modeler itself is not shown, as it has no screen interface. It executes on a cluster of high-speed computers and returns results to the operator that submitted the job.

Model Builder allows one person to assemble virtual components on screen, to represent the compressor and piping system under test.

Real-Time Engine Control

Jim — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:29:52 +0000

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires large engines to meet strict pollution-emission requirements to be certified roadworthy. Engine manufacturers don’t need to test every engine, just a particular design. Thus having the test equipment to perform the tests would be costly, since they would only be used when a design changes. So they ship a new engine to a test facility where such testing occurs all the time.

This facility puts the engine into a test cell, and couples it to a dynamometer. By running the engine through an EPA-specified speed/torque cycle, the real world of uphill / downhill, fast / slow, continuous / irregular driving can be simulated. And by measuring the pollutant concentration in the engine’s intake air and the concentration in its exhaust during this cycle, one can judge the pollution emission contributed by the engine. Since the cycle is specified, the tests are repeatable.

Electrostatic Monitoring

Jim — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:29:21 +0000

For most of us, electrostatic is an occasional nuisance; a bother when the clothes come out of the dryer, or a surprise when we touch the doorknob. In the electronics manufacturing industry, though, it’s a major hazard that is deadly to the semiconductor devices or disk drives being assembled.

Novx Corporation (now owned by MKS Instruments) manufactures a line of instruments designed to measure environmental factors such as electrostatic potential, humidity, particulate density, and more. They needed a software product to communicate with up to 1024 of these devices at one time, record, display, and alarm-check the data, and be scalable so new device models could be introduced without a great deal of hassle.

Culverson produced such a product, that accepts, decodes, and stores data from 1024 devices, using 32 serial ports, all operating simultaneously.

On-Site DAS

Jim — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:10:06 +0000

A group of engineers doing on-site diagnostics of compressors, turbines, electric motors, and a variety of other industrial machines used to carry an array of heavy, bulky, single-function electronic tools that used individual and incompatible report generating methods. The concept of streamlining their field kits with a cross-platform all-purpose unit that also would consolidate reporting functions led to the creation of the on-site diagnostic data acquisition system.

Now this same group carries their choice of laptop computers (Windows or OS X) with a handful of transducers and they can record data from any electronic signal source, analyze that recorded data and generate reports in a single format.

This window shows time domain and frequency domain analysis of a signal.

This window configures the system, allowing up to 256 channels of signals with descriptions and scaling information for each channel.