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03/01/2011
Time improvement in item measurement tasks
For quality control, the surface roughness of a test item is to be tested and its contour recorded.
The installation consists of four surface roughness gauges which are connected via four serial interfaces (RS232), a laser micrometer and a glass scale.
For the acquisition, the compact real-time PAC system MSX-Box is used, which includes PC boards with the following functions: counter, analog I/O, serial interfaces. In this case, the version of the MSX-box with PCI backplane is used.
For extremely harsh environments, it is also possible to use the compact PCI version with the corresponding CompactPCI boards.
Procedure:
The test item is moved lengthwise and the position or the covered distance is established via the glass scale.
Simultaneously, the values of the surface roughness gauges, the laser micrometer and the position of the test item (via the glass scale) are acquired.
The surface roughness gauges are parameterised to measure continuously and transfer the measured values via RS232 to the serial interfaces.
The MSX-Box is used in order to receive an exact time record because its response time of 3.5 µs guarantees deterministic conditions (real time).
It is essential to keep the time delay between position, surface roughness gauges and laser micrometer to a minimum. Therefore a logic which acquires the position (of the glass scale), analyses it and starts the acquisition of measurement values in determined time intervals (10 µm) is integrated on the FPGA of the multifunction counter board.
Every 10 µm, a digital output is set and a trigger signal is sent to one of the digital inputs of the analog board, which then starts the acquisition process of the laser micrometer.
Simultaneously the counter board generates an interrupt.
As soon as the MSX-Box receives the interrupt, which is 3.5 µs later, the position of the test item on the glass scale, the corresponding contour (analog board) and the surface values (serial interfaces) are read out simultaneously in the interrupt routine.
The combination of hardware and software, i.e. the PC boards with FPGA on the one side and the MSX-Box with real-time operating system on the other side provide the optimal solution for this application.
This example shows that hybrid technology (hardware and software combination) plays an important role in improving automation and regulation processes. Even high data volumes or very short response times can be thus handled reliably.
Technical solution
1. MSX-Box
The compact system for measurement and control tasks with real-time requirements
Product information PAC system MSX-Box
2. Interference-free PC boards
Multifunction counter board APCI-1710: 4 FPGA with functions like incremental counter, SSI, counter / timer, PWM, BiSS, digital I/O etc.
Product information counter board APCI-1710
Analog I/O board APCI-3120: 16 SE or 8 differential inputs, 16 bit, DMA, FPGA, 8 digital I/O
Product information analog I/O board APCI-3120
4-port serial interface APCI-7500: RS232, RS422, RS485, 20mA CL combinable
Product information serial interface APCI-7500-3
10:45 Posted in News, Practical knowledge | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this
Comments
Great one. Can this be controlled through microprocessor? If yes then which series is required and how?
Answer:
Thank you for your feedback and your interest.
The sample above describes how to combine the FPGA technology on ADDI-DATA PC boards with a software on the MSX-Box.
The software sample is based on Linux RTAI and a MIPS (RISC) processor.
Of course the FPGA technology can also be used in combination with other processors (x86, ARM, ...), but in this case the timing strongly depends on the operating system and other aspects (e.g. the delay of the interrupt).
We hope we were able to answer your question satisfactory. If you should have any further questions don’t hesitate to contact us, we will be pleased to answer them.
Kind regards,
Your ADDI-DATA Team
Posted by: Saudi Arabia website design company | 07/08/2011
How much would an open source PAC system like the MSX-BOX cost for a corporate client? I'm working for a car manufacturing company and measuring the surface roughness of a test item is an important part of manufacturing quality components. It would also be important for the process to be automated, so could it be controlled by a microprocessor?
Answer:
Hello,
the MSX-Box is an realtime embedded system based on a MIPS (RISC) processor. Usually, the application is running on the MSX-Box and therefore it is controlled by its micro processor.
To get an offer of the MSX-Box, you can either send us an e-mail (sales@addi-data.com) or call us: +49 7229 1847 120.
Kind regards,
Your ADDI-DATA Team
Posted by: exe file extension | 07/16/2011