Basic Data Acquisition Equipment

[aricard60]

Hello,

My company is looking at beginning to use LabVIEW for automation in our manufacturing facility. After doing some research, I believe it to be a good fit for the project i have in mind but I am unsure of the necessary equipment I'd need in addition to the LabVIEW software it self. The project parameters are as follows:

1. Receive weight (load) data from our existing scale.

          -Manufacturur: Triner Scale

          -Model: TS-700 MS with RS232 output connection

          -Range: 0 - 5000lbs.

2. Receive data from bar code scanner (1D/2d bar codes).

3. Determine if weight falls in specified range.

          -Illuminate lights based on weight pass/fail.

          -Possibly sound alarm/tone based on weight. 

4. Print weight data to label printer. 

I need to report the costs of implementing something like this and I am having trouble identifying the right equipment. 

Thanks in advance for your expertise and help! 

Andrew

[Bob_Schor · Accepted solution]

If that is all you need, your hardware costs can be close to $0.00, as all of your data are coming in through one serial line or another.  Hand-held bar-code scanners are relatively inexpensive, and many have USB interfaces that can return text messages over a USB interface.  Similarly, there are inexpensive Serial-to-USB devices that will take the Serial Cable from your balance (which should be returning a string saying "The weight is 2,345.3 pounds", or something to that effect.

Take a laptop with two USB Ports, put LabVIEW on it, write some simple code, and you have your Data Acquisition system.  Heck, you don't even need LabVIEW.  But if you also want to read analog voltages, TTL (digital) inputs and outputs, display graphs and charts, have a nice User Interface to control things, then LabVIEW can certainly be helpful/useful.

Bob Schor

[JÞB]

It looks like a great application for LabVIEW! Someone even beat you to it

Costs of implementation and equipment lists could rather easily be obtained I suspect

[aricard60]

Thanks for the info Bob!

Would this be possible with the Base version of LabVIEW? 

Andrew

[aricard60]

Agreed! Which is how we decided to go this route. However that software has it's limitations when it comes to printing the output. It's fantastic for collecting the data in a spread sheet format though.  

[JÞB]

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@aricard60 wrote:

Thanks for the info Bob!

Would this be possible with the Base version of LabVIEW? 

Andrew

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LabVIEW Base will let you create code to interface with all of the equipment you need.  You will need to add the Application Builder to deploy the code as an executable.

Beyond LabVIEW Base, LabVIEW Full and LabVIEW Pro also add levels of extended functionality and online training access.

As a new explorer of LabVIEW the online training is going to be incredibly valuable.  VI Analyzer, and Desktop Execution Trace TK ship with the Pro Version (And the App Builder is included there too) Those tools will aid you in developing code that works better than just OK.  Trust me- you do not want to duplicate every mistake that can be made in LabVIEW (although its a great learning process it is also painful)