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test&measurementZONE Products for the week of August 10, 2009
Data Translation Says…
MEASURpoint: Accurate Instrument for Correlation of Temperature and Voltage Measurements
Data Translation announced MEASURpoint, a highly accurate, multipurpose single instrument solution for measuring any combination of RTD, thermocouple, and voltage ranges from 300µV to 400V.
"MEASURpoint is the first instrument of its kind that allows the user to simultaneously correlate temperature and voltage measurements." according to Fred Molinari, Founder and CEO of Data Translation. "A broad array of applications including Li-ion and fuel cell battery measurement, hybrid electric vehicle battery performance, thermal battery management, and portable equipment measurement are now simplified."
MEASURpoint incorporates proprietary ISO-Channel technology that makes measurements almost indestructible and eliminates any common mode noise and ground loop problems under all environmental conditions. In addition, up to forty-eight configurable input channels in groupings of eight voltage, thermocouple, and RTD inputs offer ultimate flexibility to the user.
Key Product Features
- B,E,J,K,N,R,S, and T thermocouple types to 0.0004ºC resolution
- Supports Platinum RTD Types: Pt100 (±0.07ºC accuracy), Pt500, Pt1000 (±0.01ºC accuracy)
- Software selectable voltage ranges of ±10V, ±100V, or ±400V on a channel basis
- Flexible software configuration on up to 48 input channels
- USB or Ethernet (LXI Class C compliant) versions available
- Ultra-accurate and precise measurements with ISO-Channel technology
- Superior guaranteed isolation of 1000V between input channels
- Advanced ±500V isolation to earth ground
- Maximum isolation with separate DC/DC converters per channel
- Highly accurate parallel operation of 24-bit A/D resolution per channel
- Throughput rates of 10Hz simultaneously or 480Hz for 48 input channels
Software Support
Each MEASURpoint instrument ships with a ready to measure application that allows the user to be up and measuring quickly. The program allows rapid configuration and acquiring of temperature, resistance, and voltage channels, displaying, logging, analyzing, and exporting data to other formats including Excel.
EN-Genius Says…
As with most of Data Translation's recent wares, this product looks like it will make it a lot easier to acquire and process low bandwidth signals, in either USB (Universal Serial Bus) connected PC-hosted systems, or those that are LXI-compliant (LAN eXtensions for Instrumentation) and are hanging on a network.
 As highlighted in the company’s press release, a key element is the ability to accommodate multiple sensors and transducers – without MUXing. To do that, Data Translation put one high-res sigma-delta ADC on each low-noise input channel. That lets the system operate at sampling rates up to 10-Hz/channel simultaneously, or at 480-Hz for all 48 channels.
A typical MEASURpoint instrument could be configured with 16 thermocouple channels, 16 RTD (resistance temperature detectors) channels, and 16 voltage channels, for example. Depending on channel configuration and whether you choose LXI or USB connectivity, a typical system could range in price from about $3200 to about $8700, which isn't really too steep when you consider that each channel packs independent 24-bit data conversion, all handled by a dedicated embedded pre-programmed microcontroller and control FPGA.
 These boxes are tailored for use in hostile industrial environments, too. What’s more, packaging options include NEMA enclosures or standard 19-inch rack mounting.
Software Flexibility
Ready to go almost out of the box, the supplied Measurement Application software also abets rapid setup so you can acquire and display measurements as meaningful data. Not mentioned in Data Translation's press release is the availability of a Measure Foundry Development package that lets you craft custom applications. Given these instruments’ versatility, the Measure Foundry Development package should prove useful.
Another executable, dubbed The Measurement Instrument Calibration Utility, lets you revert to factory calibration settings for any or all channels at any time, or you can go back to the last calibration values you chose. This utility can also generate traceability reports listing starting and ending calibration values for each channel.
Are You There?
Optionally, you can also run what Data Translation calls its Eureka Discovery Utility. It can discover all other LXI instruments that might be connected to an Ethernet network with an LXI MEASURpoint box. Eureka provides information about instrument IP addresses, a unit’s manufacturer, model number, serial number, and firmware version. The utility can also help configure Windows firewall settings, as well as update LXI firmware.
There's also an Instrument Web Interface for LXI. It helps you verify the operation of instruments, while handling basic functions under an Internet Explorer browser. This Web interface lets you configure an LXI instrument, control its output signals, measure input signals, and store acquisition results.
Drag-And-Drop Measure Foundry
Data Translation's well-proven Measure Foundry application development package can also work with these new MEASURpoint platforms. Operating as a drag-and-drop graphical language, Measure Foundry supports all LXI instrument classes through IVI-COM. Instruments with interfaces such as IEEE-488/GPIB (General Purpose Interface Bus), PXI (PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation), LXI, RS-232, and USB are supported using SCPI (Standard Commands for Programmable Instrumentation).
Data Translation also supplies an IVI-COM driver so you can write applications for a MEASURpoint system using an IVI-COM (Interchangeable Virtual Instruments) interface. You can therefore write in Visual C#, VisualBASIC, .NET, or C++ under Visual Studio 2003/2005/2008. You can also use the IVI-COM driver with National Instruments' LabVIEW graphical programming environment, as well as The MathWorks' popular MATLAB and Instrument Control Toolbox.
Back to the hardware: there is no reference to the company's TEMPpoint or VOLTpoint boards in Data Translation's press release, but these products are what make the MEASURpoint system sing. An RTD board, for use with platinum RTDs, provides a precision reference current-source for each RTD channel.
Absolute Readings
The thermocouple board includes 10 nA break-detection circuitry to detect open thermocouple inputs, and it includes cold-junction compensation for each thermocouple channel. With this independent compensation scheme, and the system's independent per-channel ADCs, conversion is accomplished at the cold-junction compensation point to ensure accurate absolute thermocouple readings, not just relative temperature readings.
It's also worthwhile mentioning why Data Translation calls its MEASURpoint system an ultra-accurate instrument. In operation, the temperature measurement subsystems compare the voltages produced the sensors with known voltages before data is digitized and stored. The box uses a precision high-stability low-drift voltage reference for the purpose. This reference is stable to 4-ppm/ºC and 100-ppm/year.
For its part, the system's voltage board provides the three software-selectable bipolar input ranges (±10 V, ±100 V, and ±400 V full-scale). Additionally, this board includes jumper-selectable current-loop inputs for operating typical 20-mA loops, although it can handle currents up to 100 A by means of external resistors. That capability should be just the ticket for measuring current draw of motors such as those used in electric vehicles.
There are a number of additional features Data Translation hasn't called out in its press statement, but are, nonetheless, significant. For example, MEASURpoint provides the ability to set a variety of hardware and/or software triggers. These triggers use the system's digital I/O lines (you get eight isolated digital input lines that accommodate from 3 V to 28 V). On the output side, MEASURpoint offers eight solid-state relay I/O lines that can each switch ±30 V at 400 mA (peak) signals, for either ac or dc loads.
In summary, a MEASURpoint instrument should let you simultaneously acquire lots of signals under graphical software control, while accommodating signals down at the microvolt regime as well as high voltages. With a possible 48 configurable channels, you can mix and match sensors, such as thermocouples and RTDs, in groups of eight, to your heart's content.
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