Temperature/Voltage Control

[theoneandonlyjim]

I'm a bit out of my depth on this one, but hopefully someone out there can take a flier.

I've taken over a system from another test engineer which entails 6 (soon to be 12) independent LV-regulated stages, on which temperature, current, and voltage are all monitored by DAQ and controlled as programmed. Temperature is controlled by the user and is monitored by polling, current and voltage are initialized by the user then controlled by the device. Also, the data collected is uploaded via SQL to a server.The program works as is, but the overall function of the current/voltage test needs to be changed to fit a change in testing protocol.

While I make these changes, I'd like to clean up the code. The present system uses a lot of bad to awful LabVIEW protocol (the previous user had no formal training), and I'm having trouble separating the challenge of designing the architecture vs. deciphering the function/necessity of each feature.

I'm a recent CLAD and this is a bit of a stretch for my current abilities.

[theoneandonlyjim]

I'm a bit out of my depth on this one, but hopefully someone out there can take a flier.

I've taken over a system from another test engineer which entails 6 (soon to be 12) independent LV-regulated stages, on which temperature, current, and voltage are all monitored by DAQ and controlled as programmed. Temperature is controlled by the user and is monitored by polling, current and voltage are initialized by the user then controlled by the device. Also, the data collected is uploaded via SQL to a server.The program works as is, but the overall function of the current/voltage test needs to be changed to fit a change in testing protocol.

While I make these changes, I'd like to clean up the code. The present system uses a lot of bad to awful LabVIEW protocol (the previous user had no formal training), and I'm having trouble separating the challenge of designing the architecture vs. deciphering the function/necessity of each feature.

I'm a recent CLAD and this is a bit of a stretch for my current abilities.

Sorry for the double post, but I realized last night that I was pretty vague in what I was after.

I have a framework for the individual pieces (collecting/adjusting temperature, collecting/adjusting voltage), but there needs to be some interaction between the collect/adjust loops in addition to displaying the values on the front panel and writing the data to the server. Right now the method is a complicated set of local variables, and I'd like to move away from that because it's been difficult to debug. If it was one stage, I think I'd be in business, but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how to pass and process the data for each stage in a clean way.

[theoneandonlyjim]

Sorry for the double post, but I realized last night that I was pretty vague in what I was after.

I have a framework for the individual pieces (collecting/adjusting temperature, collecting/adjusting voltage), but there needs to be some interaction between the collect/adjust loops in addition to displaying the values on the front panel and writing the data to the server. Right now the method is a complicated set of local variables, and I'd like to move away from that because it's been difficult to debug. If it was one stage, I think I'd be in business, but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how to pass and process the data for each stage in a clean way.

Let's try this again.

I am attempting to write software to accomplish the following:

-Acquire, control and display on front panel temperature read in from DAQ

-Acquire, control and display on front panel voltage and current

Each of these individual functions works independently. I have six individual stages and my application requires me to have control of each of these inputs and outputs through a state machine.

Two temperature measurements are important for each of the stages: below and above the device under test. When current is applied to the device, the temperature above changes with relation to the current.

I've defined the state machine to be:

-Initialize

-Find maximum temperature difference with relation to current between two points on the device, adjust current accordingly

-Adjust stage temperature to input target

-Find maximum temperature difference with relation to current between two points on the device, adjust current accordingly

-Cycle current on and off until user stops operation- subsequence of states: wait cycle time, increment cycles, write to log file, toggle current

I am using a single, multi-source power supply, to which only one instruction at a time can be written.

Where I am struggling is implementing the architecture to put this all together. If I can provide additional information, please let me know.