Automation Parts

Bruel And Kjaer Helps To Test Lift Sound Quality Orona has used Bruel and Kjaer's Head and Torso Simulator (HATS), binaural microphones and Pulse sound-quality software to analyse the sound-quality behaviour of its lifts. This equipment allowed it to correlate the sound quality with the different noise sources and to study the most appropriate ways to improve lift comfort. Orona (manufacturer of lifts), Mondragon Goi Eskola Politeknikoa (MGEP [Engineering Faculty of Mondragon University]) and Ikerlan (Research Centre) formed a consortium to investigate the sound quality in Orona's lifts. According to Unai Galfarsoro, the coordinator of the acoustic and vibration group at Mondragon University: 'The reason for establishing the sound-quality project is the need to go beyond the traditional A-weighted sound pressure level, which is usually used to rank different noise sources, because we believe that a complete sound-quality analysis gives wider and more reliable results. ...

Teseq Upgrades Integrated Immunity Test Program Teseq has announced an upgrade to its AutoStar integrated immunity test management program. New features include an overview runtime mode, live battery control, automation developer's kit connectivity and a completely rewritten sequencer. The AutoStar 5.0 accommodates a range of testing needs with pre-programming for more than 1,000 tests and a standards database updated to incorporate the latest revisions of many manufacturer standards, including several 2008 standards. The sequencer allows the user to build complex test sequences in situations with complicated testing requirements and generate a full test report of the entire sequence. Sequences are easily stored and can be run with custom dialogues or no user interface at all. Operators can fine-tune the battery level in 100mV steps via the live single-click battery adjustment for standards that require tight tolerances on battery voltage during the test run. The immunity tes...

NI Toolkit Helps Expand Test-System Documentation National Instruments has announced the NI Teststand ATML Toolkit to help engineers expand test-system component interoperability and increase test-system documentation. The Automatic Test Markup Language (ATML) is an IEEE standard, consisting of XML document formats that describe different aspects of a test system. The toolkit adds support for the ATML Testdescription standard and improves support for the ATML Testresults standard in NI Teststand. It can be downloaded from the National Instruments Services Resource Center and is available for free to customers who have the current Standard Service Program. With the toolkit, developers can reduce development and maintenance time by automating tasks such as generating code templates based on ATML Testdescription documents, applying changes in ATML Testdescription documents to existing test sequences and increasing the amount of useful information included in reports. The toolkit can...

NI Announces PXI Express-Based Test Instruments National Instruments has introduced two 32-channel PXI Express-based digital instruments and an eight-slot high-bandwidth PXI Express 3U chassis for advanced automated test applications. The NI PXIe-6544/45 selectable-voltage digital waveform generator/analysers optimise test applications by supporting clock rates of up to 100 and 200MHz, respectively. The NI PXIe-6545 provides typical streaming rates of 660MB/s. The digital instruments are designed to enable test engineers to conduct sophisticated analysis of high-speed semiconductor devices and high-definition (HD) multimedia components that require rapid transfers of large amounts of data to and from host memory. The NI PXIe-1082 chassis, a 3U eight-slot PXI Express chassis with seven PXI Express peripheral slots, complements the generator/analysers with up to 1GB/s per-slot bandwidth and up to 4GB/s of total system bandwidth. Because of the advanced operation of the NI PXIe-6544/4...

Application Test Demonstrates Laser Cut Speed An application test has been carried out to demonstrate the cut speed and quality achieved while using a Firestar F-Series laser to cut automotive headliners. This particular semi-rigid headliner material is comprised of several layers of synthetic fibres, with a total thickness of 1.3mm (0.050in) bonded to a 1.4mm (0.056in) thick paperboard base for an overall thickness of 2.7mm (0.106in). The cutting head on the Synrad flatbed XY table contains a 63.5mm (2.5in) positive meniscus lens that provides a 100-micron (0.004in) spot with a 1.8mm (0.07in) depth of focus. During the cutting process, 4.1 bar (60lb/in2) of clean, dry air was delivered coaxially with the beam for gas assist. The Firestar lasers achieved cut rates of 14m/min (550in/min) using 400W and speeds of 7m/min (275in/min) using 200W of power. In both cases, the synthetic fibre was cleanly cut while the paperboard base exhibits slight charring of the cut edge. CO2 lasers c...

Megger Enhances MPRT To Test To IEC 61850 Megger has introduced an IEC 61850 option for the MPRT, together with the new MGC (Megger Goose Configurator) software package. This allows the MPRT to test to IEC 61850, the new international communication standard for electricity substations. The MGC software allows users to import parameters from configuration files in SCL (Substation Control Language) format, and use them to configure the MPRT test set to subscribe to pre-selected Goose (Generic Object Oriented Substation Event) messages. Data from the received messages is assigned to the binary inputs of the test set, so that the messages effectively take the place of hard-wired connections to the binary outputs of the relays. This arrangement provides for manual and automatic relay testing, using either the integral Touch View Interface (TVI) of the MPRT test set, or Megger's AVTS relay-testing software. The MGC software can also assign the binary outputs of the MPRT to Goose me...

NI Enhances Test Management Software National Instruments has introduced NI Teststand 4.2, the latest version of its test management software for developing test and validation systems. This version is designed to reduce test development time and costs through enhanced integration with test modules written in almost any programming language. NI Teststand 4.2 features improved integration with programming environments such as NI Labview and Labwindows/CVI software, as well as Microsoft .Net and scripting languages such as Perl, Python and TCL. The software reduces test system development time by serving as a commercial test executive that helps engineers reuse the software investments they have already made with various programming languages. By providing integration with scripting and .Net languages, NI Teststand 4.2 makes it possible for engineers to take advantage of their software investments and create an efficient, commercial off-the-shelf solution for their system requirement...

IM100 To Test Air Spring Impact Properties Imatek has completed the installation of an IM100 impact tester at Firestone Industrial Products that will be used to test and develop the impact properties of air springs and their component parts. The parts are used in suspension systems for the automotive and rail industries. Imatek's IM100 is an instrumented impact tester providing impact speeds up to 6m/s and uses a variable mass system of up to 200kg to provide impact energies from 1000 Joules to 5000 Joules. Instrumentation is based around a 250KN precision load cell coupled to Imatek's C3008 data-capture system and a PC running the Impacqt system control and data analysis software. Imatek's Impacqt software is designed to allow for the configuration of the drop parameter, the data capture and the analysis of resulting data. The software is designed for high productivity. There is no limit to the number or complexity of results that may be defined, so analysis can be t...