PWM Actuator control and monitoring

[Chronik]

Hi,

I am working on a personnal project and I need to control three (or maybe 4) linear actuators (fyi, dyadic SCN6 (uncertain as of now if i'll be using SCN6-020/040 or 060, but they are pretty much the same). (Spec Sheet: http://www.miraiintertech.com/home/downloads/Dyadic1003.pdf )

I do have some LabView skills, but i do lack some electronic skills to determine how to have LabView control those actuators.

I have a LabView Vi that i want to use to send some (help me here) PWM signals to control the actuators... I might need to monitor them as well to have a better control. 

So my question as of now is, what do i need to do that, what kind of PWM controller/card (I don't have a clue), and can you provide me some knowledge regarding this technology.

Thank you very much,

Marc

Message Edited by Chronik on 05-03-2010 10:17 PM

[Mr.F]

There are a lot of possible choices of hardware you can use to generate a PWM signal. Take a look at this Developer Zone artcle about using PWM and DAQmx. Do you have any hardware already or a form factor in mind? What sort of monitoring did you have in mind? That’s a very open question and I’d hate to go off on a tangent.

[Chronik]

Thanks for the reply,

After looking around, I might have to do it differently than i first expected.

I will use LabView to send position orders to the SCN6 actuators. From what i heard, I think i'll have to use some LabView compatible card with (analog) outputs, that then will then connect to somekind of servo-motor that then will be able to drive the actuators' motor according to my LabView's instructions...

PS: I said analog, because the guy i talked to said it might be better for me to send analog signals than doing PWM and sending the bit to change the direction

I really need help here, as you can see !

[Mr.F]

OK, if you run into more trouble, post back with some more information and we can try and figure out what’s happening.