Create program to control power supply by monitoring external datalogger

[Che_T.]

Hi Will,

It sounds like you're in a good place to move forward.  You indicated that you've seen examples of PID control.  Have you tried adapting it to your application?  Or do you need more familiarity with how PID controls work?  If the latter, please see the following article:

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/3782

Please read through that, and you can even attach screenshots of what you've tried.  If it doesn't work, please indicate what results you're seeing, and what results that you're expecting.

Regards,

[Will_F]

Hi Che,

In the past few days I've actually been able to basically finish my vi for a feedback control loop. What I have done is create a loop that reads an input from my rate monitor, sends that data through a PID control system that checks to see if the rate matches teh set value and if not, by how much it's off to then send a message indicating that the current must be changed accordingly. After this, if the rate doesn't match, the power supply is contacted in the vi and told to change the current up or down by a certain value, showing all of this information on the front panel.

I have attached the vi and the corresponding subs that are needed to run it. I just finished this morning, so I haven't had a chance to test it out with my equipment where I'm sure I will run into a few more hardware problems, but if you feel like looking it over and giving me feedback, I would certainly not turn it down.

Best,

Will

[Che_T.]

Hi Will,

I'm glad that you figured it out.  It sounds like you got it in a working state.  Definitely keep us updated if you run into any issues with your current implementation.  I like how this post had steadily evolved into a more appropriate method of doing things.

Regards,