how to configure a shell and tube heat exchanger with Lab VIew to get data

[HXdaq]

There's no manual but this is the link with all the technical details:

http://www.adafruit.com/products/828#Technical%20Details

I think it sends out 450 pulses per liter of flow

[nathand]

What makes you think that the sensor "has positive, negative and a ground wire"? The description of the sensor says "The sensor comes with three wires: red (5-24VDC power), black (ground) and yellow (Hall effect pulse output)." In order to get it hooked up properly, you'll need to pay attention to these details. What DAQ device are you using? Does it have a counter input, which will make it much easier to measure pulses?

[HXdaq]

I'm using the NI USB-6008

[HXdaq]

it has analog input

[nathand]

The USB-6008 has a single counter input. I recommend that you connect the pulse from the sensor to that input (assuming the voltage levels are compatible - I didn't check). This makes it easy to count pulses in a given period of time, and since each pulse corresponds to a unit of flow, you can easily calculate flow rate. If you use an analog input, you'll need to acquire a fixed number of points and then analyze the data to determine the number of pulses in it. While there are functions to do a lot of that work for you, it still won't be as simple as counting pulses using the counter.

[HXdaq]

Thanks 🙂

When you say put the sensor into the single counter input should it go into analog side or the digital side?

[nathand]

I meant you should read the manual to see which pin is the counter input - looks like it's PFI0.

I haven't used a USB-6008 and am not completely certain of its capabilites. You may want to look at whether it's capable of doing a frequency measurement. If it can only do a single software-timed read of the counter, then your reading could be inaccurate because you'll need take two readings and subtract and you won't be able to precisely measure the time between those two readings. If the DAQ device can do continuous analog input measurements with hardware timing, then you may get a more accurate reading using the analog input but you'll need to do more processing, because you'll know the exact period of time over which the measurement was made.

[HXdaq]

hi I hope you are well 🙂  (I figured out how to get the pulse counter to work) I am now trying to configure the pressure transducer for labview it got to the pressure bridge set-up page after I told LabVIEW i was using a daq to read pressures from a pressure transducer

do you know how to input this infromation where it says configure scale:

Output: 0.5V – 4.5V linear voltage output. 0 psi outputs 0.5V, 7.5 psi outputs 2.5V, 15 psi outputs 4.5V

[nathand]

I'm not sure what you mean by "configure scale." Are you using Measurement and Automation Explorer to set up a task, or are you using the DAQ Assistant, or something else? A screenshot would help. You can easily convert that scaling information into a slope and an intercept, if that's what's required.

[HXdaq]

I attached the screenshots