Arcus LabVIEW VI’s make light work of solar simulation motion system upgrade
Arcus Technology Inc., the USA stepper motor innovator represented by LG Motion, has recently supplied a low-cost multi-axis upgrade that includes its extensive set of LabVIEW VI's as part of a PC motion program for a solar simulation test rig.
Arcus' customer required the retrofit for a laboratory solar device test rig that was originally built using LabVIEW measurement tools but had a disparate motion system with limited features that restricted the overall rig's performance capabilities. The upgrade required improved control of aperture elements that adjust the intensity of individual light sources to allow multiple beams to be paired and coordinated in various sequences for higher level analysis. The design brief called for a motion solution that included LabVIEW VIs and USB communications as key requirements of a control system that would maintain the existing drive and stepper motor components.
Whilst other motion system manufacturers supply NI LabVIEW VIs, many were considered far too costly and sophisticated or were servomotor based - which would have necessitated the expensive and unnecessary replacement of motors and drives for the 9-axis system. A combination of Arcus' USB networked PMX-4CX-SA, 4-axis stepper motor controllers and the free of charge LabVIEW VI library was chosen for low cost and installation simplicity.
The LabVIEW VI library is available with all Arcus USB products and is supplied with source code and installers that make set-up and programming straightforward for the customer.
The driver set consists of low-to-high level VI's designed for both simple and complex motion and I/O control solutions; offering a very cost effective option when using single or multiple axis stepper motor systems with NI LabVIEW measurement or control applications. An intuitive LabVIEW VI based 'Utility Panel' is also supplied as part of the package which makes use of many of the features available and can provide the basis for application development. The Utility Panel also demonstrates entry of Arcus' user-friendly BASIC-like A-SCRIPT programming language that may be additionally used for programming. Both the LabVIEW VIs and A-SCRIPT can be used by non-experienced programmers.
