A versatile data logging system offered rather more than its purchaser
originally expected, and saved him a considerable amount in dedicated
test systems
When Dan Hatcher, emissions laboratory co-ordinator at Johnson Matthey's
Catalytic Systems division, acquired a couple of HBM Spider8
eight-channel data loggers for basic data acquisition tasks - in his
case, exhaust gas sampling - he quickly realised he had the basis of a
complete test control system. The loggers and their associated Catman
software were being used to measure temperatures and pressures, but when
it was realised that the units could do more than obtain readings
whenever there was a change in voltage - indeed, provide data from
anything producing a voltage analogue output - they were put to other
tasks, such as controlling valves, compressors, a dynamometer and exhaust
gas analyser functions.
Mr Hatcher could have bought emissions measurement technology from
companies producing equipment specifically for that purpose. However, a
similar dedicated system would have been around four times more
expensive, in his estimation, than the equipment supplied by HBM. While
he did not want to go into detail about the savings, Mr Hatcher confirmed
that the Spider8s were relatively inexpensive compared with the
alternatives and that they had reduced his department's costs.
The Catman software proved particularly useful as it offers a scripting
facility, which allows users to tailor test routines to particular
requirements. According to Mr Hatcher, the scripting saved a lot of time
setting up test instruments because it instructs the loggers when to
start recording, and at what frequency. With extensive in-house script
writing, we have expanded HBM's hardware and software to create a test
control system, he adds. The scripting function has also made life
easier for the test technicians, because they can simply call up an
existing routine when they need to repeat a test, in just a few mouse
clicks.