Help with Omega Infrared Temperature Sensor with USB Interface Model(s): IR-USB

[niu_logic]

Hi,

I am a beginner when it comes to labview and was wondering if the IR-USB sensor by Omega was compatible with LabVIEW and whether anyone has worked with them before in lv. I also want to find out whether the vi for this sensor is easily available. I am not too sure about which infrared temperature sensor will work best with lv.

Thanks

[James_McN]

Hi,

It appears it isn't compatible straight away.  It is designed to talk to the software provided by Omega and they don't appear to provide drivers for development in other programming languages.

Having said that it theoretically could be.  It appears that although the connector is USB the device actually mimics a serial port which we can easily interact with from LabVIEW.  To do this though we would need to know the commands to send and the format of the data received.  This would usually be obtained from the manufacturer.

My suggestion would be to contact Omega and see if they can offer a LabVIEW driver or a programmers manual with the commands for the device.  If not they may be able to recommend something that would be compatible.

Regards,

[niu_logic]

do you think that i should communicate with the device by using visa write/read block to obtain the temperature reading and sending the read current temperature command... or is there any other way for communicating with the device.

[James_McN]

Hi,

That would be the way to communicate with it as a serial device and it is certainly possible but you need to know what commands to send or what data it sends back to be able to do this.

Regards,

[RavensFan]

You could always use a program like portmon while using the Omega supplied software and see if you can decode the commands they are using.

[niu_logic]

At the moment I am using an Optris/Micro Epsilon CS sensor. I can manage to display the temperature values. However they not always reliable compared to the values i obtain using the software provided with the sensor. Is there any way I can decode the commands etc they used in the software to communicate with the sensor through usb interface.

I tried using portmon but it doesnt recognise the sensor as it is only displayed as serial com in lv only.

[RavensFan]

That is exactly what portmon is used for.  To monitor serial ports.  (Actually it might have other uses, but I've only used it for serial.)

[niu_logic]

sorry i forgot to mention that the sensor i am using is a usb sensor, but in labview it shows up as a serial port. so i think that is why i cant get portmon to work...

[RavensFan]

Yes.  If it shows up as a serial port in LabVIEW, then it shows up as a serial port in Windows.  In which case portmon WILL work.

Try launching portmon before starting the Omega software.

[BooRad]

Have you worked out this solution.  I have to write my own software that will monitor the temperature and have one of these devices/  Help is appreciated