Adding Phidgets force sensor ( load cell ) to a Labview VI...

I have an exiting Labview VI, program has been running for a few years, now I need to add the Phidgets sensor ( load cell ).
I don't write programs very often. I've added the channel and looked at some examples, but having issues finding the icons needed
to make the load cell functional.

There are several examples and help info:
1) "Bridge - Continuous Input.VI" from labview help>find examples
2) http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/epd/p/id/5902
3) http://www.ni.com/white-paper/7138/en
4) depending on what hardware you are using.. https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-2018
I hope this helps. If you give more specific info that might help. What do you have the load cell connected to?

Similar Messages

Load cell with labview 6

Hey guys,
I have to write load cell program with labview 6, but I have no idea how to do it.
If anyone knows, please give some hints.
Thank you

If you have little LabVIEW programming experience, the link below would be a good place to start:
http://www.ni.com/gettingstarted/labviewbasics/
I've also located a good example on ni.com/community that shows how to monitor a load cell in LabVIEW
https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-2151
I hope this information is helpful.
-Nick-
Nick C | Staff LabVIEW Platform Product Support Engineer | National Instruments

Closed loop velocity control based on load cell force

Hello,
My application is for a drill, that drills into rocks of various densities for the purpose of collecting rock core samples.
My setup has 2 motors which get controlled, one spins the drill bit at a constant velocity, the other moves the drill mechanism along a Z axis.
For efficient cutting, it is desired to apply a constant force between the drill bit and the rock. I have a load cell which measures the force being exerted by the drill bit on the rock surface, and this force can be adjusted by changing the velocity of the Z axis. So I would like to employ closed loop control to adjust the Z axis velocity to maintain a constant force on the rock.
Platform: cRIO 9073, with NI 9505 & 9215 Modules, Labview 2010 Full with RT and FPGA modules.
The load cell is by Transducer Techniques, and I use their TMO-1 module to condition the signal, the output of which is attached to an input of the 9215 module, where 0-100 lbs equates to 0-8VDC.
The motors and encoders for the Drill and Z axis are connected directly to the 9505 modules.
Right now I am using a modified version the example found in ...\examples\CompactRIO\Module Specific\NI 9505\Velocity Control (closed loop)\Velocity Control (closed loop) - NI 9505.lvproj to accomplish velocity control of the motors.
My questions are:
1) Do I have the appropriate NI hardware/software for this task?
2) With my current hardware setup, what would be an appropriate way to control my Z axis velocity rate based on Analog feedback from the load cell?
3) Development time is a critical factor, so are there any toolkits etc that are easy to get started with that would drastically decrease my development time, or do I already have everything I need?
Thank you for your time
-MK Hokie

1. Your hardware and software look appropriate assuming the motors are compatible with the 9505s. You didn't mention the NI SoftMotion module in your software list which is something you will need.
2. There are a few ways of doing this. One method would be to have a force PID loop that would attempt to maintain a force setpoint by directly outputting values to your torque loop. In this case, the drill would essentially move as fast as it could while maintaining the force setpoint. Another option is to have the force loop output a velocity setpoint. You would then have a velocity PID loop that outputs torque values to the torque loop. By adding this additional velocity loop you could have control over your maximum and minimum velocities. There are likely other alternatives as well, but these are the first two that come to mind.
3. Unfortunately there are no shipping examples that close the loop on force feedback. My advice would be to start with the NI 9505 shipping example and adapt it to your needs. There are quite a few things you will want to change though. Do you know if you will need to use the trajectory generator to move the drill into position before starting the force control?
Assuming you don't need any trajectory generation, you can scrap the entire RT portion of the NI 9505 example and just create the necessary FPGA code. On the FPGA, you won't need the Spline or Synchronization code either because this information would no longer be coming from RT. You could take these out and replace the position loop with a force loop and possibly a velocity loop and your FPGA program would basically be finished. In fact the only real motion IP that you will need is for the encoders (assuming you want velocity control) and PID. Then you would need to create an RT VI that allows you to send down enable, disable, PID gains, and setpoints.
If you do need trajectory generation, you would want to keep most of the example code the way that it is, but then program in a 'Force Mode' that utilizes the force and velocity controly as described above. You could think of it as having two different routines programmed side by side.
Regards,
Burt S

Dynamic force control using linear servo actuator + load cell

Hello,
I am designing a test fixture which will allow us to test the performance of actuators we install in our products. I need to apply a constant load to the actuator while it is extending/retracting. I would like to be able to use a linear servo actuator and a load cell on the same axis as the UUT to provide and monitor the load. The actuator under test does not travel at high speeds, its max speed is approximately 1in./sec.
I need to be able to maintain a constant load while the actuator is moving. Therefore I'll need some kind of closed loop system to maintain a velocity such that the load being reported from the load cell is equal to the expected load as the actuator is moving.
I am trying to figure out how to best implement this in a cost effective and time-saving way. I have not purchased any hardware at the moment so am open to suggestions. We do have LabView 2009 with all the toolkits. Would it be best to implement this using a motion controller card or would I be able to get good results using a standard DAQ?
Message Edited by fnaeem on 02-05-2010 05:58 PM

As you have stated correctly, you will need a deterministic closed loop system to accomplish this task. The most cost efficient while reliable solution for this purpose is a motion control board like the PCI-7352. This board provides quadrature encoder inputs for positioning tasks and analog inputs for any other type of control. Torque/force control is a very typical task for this board and it provides a simple API and useful configuration tools.
If cost savings are a primary goal, you could also use a PCI-7342, but for your application I would recommend the PCI-7352, as the PCI-7342 provides only 12-bit ADCs, while the PCI-7352 provides 16-bit ADCs, resulting in a much better resolution of your force feedback signal.
I hope that helps,
Jochen Klier
National Instruments

Question on Measuring Lift Force for MAV Ornithopter for Student Project using Load Cell

Hey everyone!
I am new to these forums so bare with me, please. I am part of a senior design student group working on making a micro aerial vehicle ornithopter (generates lift by flapping its wings) similar to this Design.
We are using this load cell connected to an AD620 Op-Amp circuit that basically has two input wires from the load cell coming into the op-amp with a gain of 100 (there is an Rg resistor with 500 ohms in the circuit). The load cell and op-amp circuit are both powered correctly with 10 V and +-15 V, respectively. There are two output wires coming out of the circuit. One comes out of the 6th terminal of the op-amp, and one is connected to ground. If we turn on everything and test the output of the circuit with a multimeter there is little if no fluctuation in the output voltage, which is about .25 V with zero load. If we add precise weights and form a linear graph of the output voltage vs. weight, we can find that there is about .0045 volts/gram relationship.
Here comes the part we we are having trouble. It seems as though the circuit it working correctly, but when we try and hook it up to our USB-6221 DAQ Board though the ai0 (or any analog input) and confirm a LabVIEW program to read the output, we get a ton of noise along with a weird looking graph.
Here is a picture of the front panel that shows the output we are getting http://img130.imageshack.us/i/frontpanelg.jpg/
Basically, I would have though we could get a straight line that continuely increases or decreases depending on the load on the load cell. Why would it graph a ton of vertical lines? I would think it would be just one data point per time value?
Here is the simpler block diagram just to test the output: http://img26.imageshack.us/i/blockdiagramsmall.jpg/
Here is the main block diagram that we were going to use to convert to force, etc. but its not working (no need for while loop?): http://img15.imageshack.us/i/blockdiagrambig.jpg/
The properties of the DAQ Assistant VI is as follows:
input range: -10 to 10 v
RSE terminal configuration
acquisition mode: n samples and not sure how many samples we want to read or how fast. we had 1k hz and 100 samples and the image above is basically what we got it the program runs continuously.
I don't know what else I can tell you, except that if anyone helps me you would be like a godsend to our group. It would be very much appreciated
Thanks!!!

As I am unable to look at youor images (the corporate filter here is blocking the url) I can't see what you are describing. I will say that a multimeter will not show fast transitions that will show up in a LabVIEW/DAQ application, so using a meter usually doesn't tell you that much about signal "cleanness". How long are the wires from the op amp/load cell to the DAQ? How long are the wires, and what type (shielded, twisted pairs, untwisted pairs, etc.) from the load cell to the op amp. The output levels of the load cell are usually quite low, so the possibility of also picking up "environmental" electrical noise is very high, and this will be amplified as well. Since the output of the op amp is higher, the noise introduced between it and the input to the DAQ is less of an issue, but there as well. So making sure that signal wires are properly shielded and grounded is important, and there are long papers describing this for low level analog signals. Since the load cells desired output will probably vary relatively slowly (a few Hz) it may also be helpful to put a simple low pass filter before the DAQ.
You should insert the images into your post, as jpg, or png (you have jpg images) Not bmp! (this is for others that might read your post, yours are jpg which should be ok). Generally most of us won't or can't go to links, corporate network filters and corporate policies frown on it, too much maleware lurking at the end of unknown URL's
Putnam
Certified LabVIEW Developer
Senior Test Engineer
Currently using LV 6.1-LabVIEW 2012, RT8.5
LabVIEW Champion

Force Mapping from Modified Load Cell

I am having some trouble finishing a program that we have been asked to write. Basically, the program is connected to a piece of hardware we fabricated. The hardware (attached below) is basically a wheel with four spokes. Each spoke has a strain gage attached to it on either side. These are connected as two full-bridge circuits. I have been able to get the force output for each of the full-bridges as the maximum value. We have now been asked to create a map of the forces to show where the most force is being placed (assuming uneven distribution). My vision is that it would use colors to show where the forces are, similar to a temperature map. What would I use to go about doing this?
Attachments:
Force Measurement v1.vi ‏106 KB
Modified Load Cell.png ‏267 KB

Look at the Intensity Graph. That will plot data as a range of colors. You will need to do some math to determine the value distributions from your set of strain gauge readings. You may also need to do some geometry/masking to set the force to zero where there is no material.
Lynn

Applying 5 kN external force on a load cell - Force readings to start from 0 kN

I am recording readings from an Omega Load Cell using DAQmx (Continuous bridge example) . A pre-tension force of 5 KN is applied on the load cell. Is there any way of forcing the applied pre-load force to drop to zero so the readings to start from zero?
Thanks!

The way you worded your question in somewhat ambiguous.
You really do not want to remove the physical preload force, do you?
I think what you want to do is to change the readings to account for the preload. That can be done fairly easily if you have complete control over the applied loads and know when there is no additonal load on the cell. In the weighing (scale and balance measurements of force or mass) this process is called taring. The tare is the weight or force without the external load. At the grocery store they adjust for the weight of the container before they add your food.
Add a Tare state to your state machine. When the user presses the Tare button on the front panel, the program takes a reading from the load cell (or several readings to be averaged). That reading is the tare force. Place it on a shift register. Then subtract the tare force from the readings taken while the desired measurements are happening.
If the maximum load is close to the load cell limit, the termperature of the load cell varies, or there are impact loads involved, then this simple taring approach may not be good enough. That is not because of any inherent problem with the method, but due to the things that can cause a load cell to drift or change baseline outputs.
Lynn

Load cell calibration

Hi there,
New to Labview. Working on a little college assignment and am looking for a little bit of help. I have a micro load cell hooked up to a myDAQ and I'm attempting to calibrate it to get a make-shift weighting scales. I have attached my vi below. So far I have been able to calibrate it to an extent, but the precision is quite poor. It seems to fluctuate +/- 30 grams. I've been told that the error on the load cell is +/- 5g so I would like to get it a little closer to that. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Load cell
http://www.phidgets.com/products.php?product%20id=3134
Attachments:
Scales new 15_2.vi ‏408 KB

Add a (INAXXX) ampifier with 100 to 400 times amplification ...
The rated output is 1mV/V so you get 5mV at max load and you also need to measure the exitation voltage .. the myDAQ spec tells that it's not exactly 5V ....
If you can't use an external amplifier, use the analog inputs in differential mode and 2V range, and use three 2.2k resistors to divide down (1/3) the supply voltage.
use a low samplerate (twice your line freq) mean as much samples as possible.
Assuming that the supply is only slowly drifting, measure the supply only (50 samples), sensor only (100 samples), and supply again (50 samples)
Mean the supply and the senor output and use the ratio (U_mean_sensor/U_mean_supply) for your calibration
Greetings from Germany
Henrik
LV since v3.1
“ground” is a convenient fantasy
'˙˙˙˙uıɐƃɐ lɐıp puɐ °06 ǝuoɥd ɹnoʎ uɹnʇ ǝsɐǝld 'ʎɹɐuıƃɐɯı sı pǝlɐıp ǝʌɐɥ noʎ ɹǝqɯnu ǝɥʇ'

Data acquisition from switching 500lbs load cell to 100lbs load cell

I am using 500lbs load cell, and acquiring data by inputing 2volts from 2345 signal conditioning board, and sensor output is connected to SCC-AI03 pin 3 and 4 , and configure this load cell to a channel using NI MAX, data neighborhood, traditional NI-DAQ virtual channel, the physical quantity is voltage set at range -10 to 10, and sensor also set at voltage with no scaling, but, I couldn't get any signal when 100lbs load cell is use, the difference of this 100 lbs load cell is the rated output is at 2.958mV/V, while the 500lbs rated at 1.8295mV/V , how should I do this?
Thanks.

Hi,
At this point, it is difficult to determine exactly what is happening to your acquisition. Could you please provide some additional information by answering the following questions:
What voltage are you reading with the 500 lb load cell?
Would it be possible to connect your load cells to a DMM and see what voltage reading you receive? If so, what do you see?
What is specifically happening when you connect the 100 lb load cell?
I also noticed that you are using the Traditional NI-DAQ (Legacy) driver. I recommend upgrading to the NI-DAQmx driver. Here are a couple of links with more information about DAQmx:
Advantages of NI-DAQmx:
Transition from Traditional NI-DAQ to NI-DAQmx:
Learn 10 Functions in NI-DAQmx and Solve 80% of Data Acquisition Applications:
Regards,
Hal L.

Force the loading of a class from disk

Is it possible to force the loading of a class from disk ? The assumption here is that the class we want to load will be continuously updated so we want the latest version of the class(on disk) rather than the one already in memory.
Thank you.

You have to implement a custom loader.
public class MyLoader extends URLClassLoader
public (URL[] urls)
    super(urls);
public synchronized loadClass(String className) throws ClassNotFoundException
    // first check built in JDK 1.2 class cache
    Class clazz = findLoadedClass(className);
    if (null == clazz)
      // Didn't find it in cache, so check our custom
      // URL[] classpath, added at the constructor.
      clazz = findClass(className);
      if (null == clazz)
        // Didn't find it in our classpath, so either
        // throw a ClassNotFoundException, or call to
        // the parent if we want to go that way.
        throw new ClassNotFoundException();
    return clazz;
}In the above, you can do all sort of things. We don't delegate to the parent at all, so if the class being looked for is NOT in any of the URL[] objects passed in when created, then a ClassNotFoundException is thrown. The normal delegation checks cache, then the parent loader, then the findClass(). We simply remove the check to the parent, and try the findClass() right away. Because URLClassLoader implements findClass() to look for a .class in ALL of the URL[] objects passed to it, we don't need to bother with that at all.
Does that help? Ask away if you have more questions.

Modbus communication with a load cell

Hello..!
I'm a new user of LV and I try to communicate with a load cell by RS232 modbus.
After installed NI Modbus Library I created a master VI with labview 8.6 using these library, and I can obtain a communication with load cell , these value are added into 1 register U32Bit, and it's okay, if I press a load cell I can see the values go on.( from 0 to 65535) . Now I want to show on front panel the value in KG , as decimal point,, for a right interpretation of value for my customer, so I added a block array to unbundle than I convert a value with I32Bit ( -32768 to 32768 ) with an indicator, but I can't see any values..
I suppose I doing something of wrong ( conversion ), I read some KB, but I can't see a suitable solution..
Can someone give me a link or information to show me an example to convert this value..?
Thanks in advance for any helps..
Configuration of MAster VI:
Read holding register
Starting address 2012 ( query for obtain net value from the load cell)
quantity 1
Slave address: 1
RTU
9600
Com 3
parity none
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hello Ravens,
I tried to use your good advices and finally I can communicate correctly with my trasducers showing on front panel the right value ( Kg). Has been a problem of conversion from output of register ( U16Bit as 0-65535 ) to I16bit ( -32765 to 32765).
Thanks very much for your help, and I hope to chat again for new challenge...
Have a nice WE
Julio
Attachments:
Comunicazione Modbus load cell.jpg ‏46 KB

PASCO Load Cell and NI DAQ Interfacing

Hi everyone,
I have a PASCO Load Cell PS-2200 and I am trying to interface it with an NI-9201 AI (in conjunction with a NI-cDAQ 9172). Instead of attaching wires to the cell's pinout, I stripped a PS2 connector and rearranged the wires to match the pinout of the sensor (which are the strain gauge input, strain gauge output, the excitation voltage of 4.2 and the ground). I connected the strain gauge signal to a channel of the NI 9201 and I am using an external power source to provide voltage to the cell. My VI is trivial and consists of an input DAQ and Lowpass filter.
The problem is that the input signal is obviously not right, it looks periodic for one. The filtered signal appears stable at first but slowly increases over time. And the signal does not respond to applied stresses.
I would really appreciate any help on this. I am a ME sophomore and have little experience with LabVIEW.
Thank you.

Thank you Jignesh and Dave,
Jignesh, I do not have a scope I can measure the ouput with. And no, the cell does not respond to variable loads. Also, please find attached the snapshots you had asked for. The front panel snapshot shows the cell's reponse when under no load
Dave, the module I am using has a 16 bit resolution and within a +/- 10 full inut range, don't we have enough resolution to acquire the smallest change?
Also, from the pinout of the load sensor, the pin for the excitation terminal and the positive strain gaugw output are adjacent. They are not the same terminal. We took every possible precaution to make sure that the terminals of the PS2 connector did not touch during soldering.
Thank you for your help again.
Attachments:
block diagram.jpg ‏159 KB
front panel.jpg ‏390 KB

Is it possible to condition a load cell signal with a 1520 SCXI and then use it as the primary analog feedback for a 735X motion control board?

My system
PXI 1052 chassis
PXI 8196 RT controller
Flexmotion 7356 motion controller
Flexmotion 7354 motion controller
6259 M series DAQ
1520 SCXI
1520 SCXI
1314 SCXI frount mounting terminal block
DSM strain gage load cells
Exlar SR Brushless PM motors
Kollmorgen servo star CD series 5 drives
My objective:
I want to measure the force on the load cells with the 1520 SCXI (i.e. excite the load cell then amplify and condition its output) then I want to use this analog (force) signal as the primary feedback for my motion control system (7356 and 7354 motion controller connected to my drives and motors).
The problem:
The motion controller boards (7356 and 7354) can be configured for force feedback control via analog feedback from a load cell. However the boards implicitly expect the load cell signal to be amplified and conditioned with and external signal conditioner rather then using an NI SCXI module. Currently I’m am reading the SCXI signals via the 6259 M seriers DAQ and consequentially have no way to route the signal into the 735X boards for force feedback control. I can use softmotion to control the motors but then I loose the fast PID update rates possible with the 735X boards.
The question:
Is it possible to condition a load cell signal with a 1520 SCXI and then use it as the primary analog feedback for a 735X motion control board?
Thanks
Patrick Aubin
Ph.D Candidate
University of Washington &
VA MedicalCenter of Excellence for
Limb Loss Prevention and Prosthetic Engineering

Hi GG,
Thank you for your feedback.
>create your own external circuitry to amplify the signal.>
True a few op-amps could amplify and filter the signal externally but the performance of such an amateur built system will never match the accuracy and functionality of the 1520 SCXI. That’s why we spent the $2500 for the professional version.
>One thing that you could do is to use a UMI with your motion controller and then wire your signal from your SCXI to the UMI.>
As I understand it the UMI is basically a break out connectivity interface for third party drives. After conditioning and amplifying the analog force signal with the SCXI module the analog signal isn’t available to wire into a UMI. To my knowledge the conditioned signal of the SCXI resides only in the PXI backplane (i.e. there is no physical access to the conditioned analog signal). Can you explain how the UMI could be help here.
Again thanks for your input GG.
Patrick

Read from both load cell and accelerometer

Hi,
I'm trying to collect data from both load cell (which doesn't need excitation) and accelerometer (which needs 4 mA excitation). As you can see below, I wrote a simple program to collect data from both devices. However, my program provides 4 mA of excitation to all channels, one of which shouldn't receive any current. How can I selectively provide the excitation to specific channels?
Any suggestions?
Solved!
Go to Solution.
Attachments:
readfromtwodevices.vi ‏47 KB

Good morning jeongho20000,
Both aeastat and falkpl have provided excellent solutions for this. I also wanted to mention a good KnowledgeBase article found at ni.com by searching for "daqmx channel same task" in the internal search bar. This helps to outline both solutions. After searching, you can then select multiple entries, but the best that I found was the 3rd choice, titled: Using Different Types of DAQmx Global Channels in the Same Task.
You can download from the article the attached example VI titled Multiple Channels Created.vi, and modify the block diagram to fit your needs. Wiring the Task Out to the Task In of two DAQmxCreateChannel VIs is the programmatic equivalent of adding multiple Global Virtual Channels created in Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX) to a common Task in MAX. Either method works, it is only a user preference. Feel free to reply if you need further clarification/explanation.
Best,
Message Edited by cyclone2k9 on 04-06-2010 11:08 AM
Message Edited by cyclone2k9 on 04-06-2010 11:09 AM
Adam
Academic Product Manager
National Intruments

Connection for load cell to NI9237

Hi,
I have this omega load cell part LCKD-10 which is a half bridge load cell that I need to connect to the NI9237. Please advice on the connection.
Thanks
Joelle

Thanks. I need to write out a program which checks the centrality of force. I will be using 5nos of the omega load cell, 1 in the centre(Isolated) and the other 4 at all 4 corners. I'm suppose to firstly calibrate the load cell and then take measurement of the force applied to the 5 load cell and display the result in a form of a radar graph (Just a dot in the centre of the graph to show the centrality of the force). Appreciate if you can provide some procedures or program that I can use or try out.

Adding Phidgets force sensor ( load cell ) to a Labview VI...

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