Controlling Solenoid Valves for a water level application with LabVIEW:

Hello,
I am trying to control the water level in a tank using solenoid valves with LabVIEW.
I have an ultrasonic sensor that is going to measure the water level in the tank, I have the working VI (attached) for how the sensor measures the water level, I have made the vi so that it measures the distance the water level is away from the sensor (the sensor is attached to the top of the bucket). The vi which is attached also calculates the volume as more water is added into the bucket (the bucket is frustum shaped).
What works: VI interacts with ultrasonic sensor. VI measures the distance the water level is away from the sensor, VI calculates the volume in the bucket as more water is added.
What I am trying to do now: I want to have another bucket (filled with water) sitting above my bucket with the sensor on it, and with a solenoid valve attached to that bucket, and another bucket sitting below my bucket with the sensor on it (not filled with water). I want to interface these solenoid valves with LabVIEW in a way, that the user can enter in say "70%" as the desired percentage of water in the bucket with the sensor, and LabVIEW controls the the valve on the bucket to fill up the bucket with the sensor up to 70% and if there is any overshoot, there will be another valve attached to the bucket with the sensor that will let water out to go into the empty bucket).
Basically, turn on and off the valves based on how much more water needs to be added into the bucket and what the desired percentage is.
The equipment that I have is:
Ultrasonic sensor: http://www.amazon.com/Ultrasonic-Module-HC-SR04-Distance-Arduino/dp/B004U8TOE6
Solenoid Valves: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290763981675&ssPageName=ADME:LU:US:3160
3 buckets.
I need some ideas on how I can complete the rest of this project. Thank you in advance! Please see the attached vi.
Attachments:
Sensor.vi ‏28 KB

Thinking off the top of my head, if it were me, I'd start with the master-slave design pattern.
In the master loop, put your vi for reading the level.
In the slave loop, put very simple logic that looks at the value coming from the notifier and takes one of three actions each time a notification is received:
If the level is greater than the setpoint (+some "empirically determined" hysteresis value, say 1-2%) open the valve to let water out of the middle bucket.
If the level is equal to the setpoint (+- the same hysteresis value) make sure both valves are closed.
If the level is less than the setpoint (-the same hysteresis value) open the valve to let water into the middle bucket.
Repeat until you're done.
You will probibly want to figure out a better way to stop things than what is shown in the design pattern template - using an error to stop works, but in the long run limits your options.
Oh yes, when shutting down, there is one thing that you will need to be sure that you do - to prevent wet feet. But I'll leave that for you to figure out as well.
Mike...
PS: This is homework right?
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Control solenoid valves

Hello All,
I need to control 3 solenoid valves (MHP1-M1H-3/2o-M3-PI), using labview. The activation protocol is like this:
valve1 On for 2 seconds, and then Off for 1 sencond, this should start with pressing a bottom and stop after specific number of on-off cycles (for example after 100 times on-off), again with bottom.
valve 2 and 3 have the same protocol, but they should start after a 'delay=1 second' respectively after eachother.
Since I am a new user to Labview, could you please help me how I can programm these tasks.
I have attached the task description.
Thank you very much.

Matin88 wrote:
I need to control 3 solenoid valves (MHP1-M1H-3/2o-M3-PI), using labview. The activation protocol is like this:
valve1 On for 2 seconds, and then Off for 1 sencond, this should start with pressing a bottom and stop after specific number of on-off cycles (for example after 100 times on-off), again with bottom
valve 2 and 3 have the same protocol, but they should start after a 'delay=1 second' respectively after eachother.
Since I am a new user to Labview, could you please help me how I can programm these tasks.
I have attached the task description.
Thank you very much.
You've forgot to attach the description. And why don;t you try something or atleast come up with a flowchart.
You for trials, you can possibly use LED's on the front (representing the valves) as shown below.
I am not allergic to Kudos, in fact I love Kudos.
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Control solenoid valve

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Howdy MYLONG!
One of the best resources to find LabVIEW example programs is in the LabVIEW Example Finder. You can access it in LabVIEW by going to Help>>Find Examples...
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Hi vdey
I hope you are doing great. Regarding your questions about the digital outputs generation, I did my research using the same example of Digital -SW Ouput VI.
I did not change anything of the code except for some few changes.
Ok, first question
Using this VI example I am able to control the outputs and when I used one of the booleans controls I am able to turn on and off the different outputs of the modules.
Second question
If you want to create an automatic pattern with the outputs of the module, I think you can use a array with Booleans premade it by you combined with a state machine.
Third question.
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Fourth Question
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Fifth Question
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