Article: DAQ in the Box

Data acquisition doesn't come much more straightforward than this. IOtech has put together all the hardware and software you need for simultaneous PC monitoring of thermocouples and other mixed signals, into a ready-to-run package. NIGEL TREVARTHEN explains what it can do.

You'd like to record a mix of signals on your PC, possibly at a high rate, but also measure one or more thermocouple signals against this? According to the data acquisition team at Adept Scientific, this is a requirement which occurs increasingly often, and manufacturer IOtech has responded with a very nice package. Anyone looking to simultaneously acquire data from thermocouples and a mix of other signals to a PC now has their job made a lot easier with this new dedicated PCI data acquisition product, known as the DynaRes series.

Offering top-end accuracy, DynaRes is a complete hardware, software and signal conditioning package, ready to use out of the box. It consists of a PCI card which can sample voltage input signals at high rates at the same time as low noise thermocouples and high speed digital inputs, along with ready-to-use software and drivers for DASYLab, LabVIEW, and Windows-based languages including Visual Basic and C++. There's also cabling and a screw terminal/signal conditioning pod.

One of the things we particularly like is that all power for the DynaRes is derived from the PC, so there is no need for external power supplies or transformers. The inputs and outputs are accessed via convenient screw terminals located on the signal conditioning pod, and the cover of the signal conditioning pod is easily removable to gain access to the screw terminals for signal connections.
Thermocouple measurements are highly accurate, with cold junction compensation built-in, alongside typically less than 0.2C channel-to- channel variation and noise. Absolute accuracy is typically better than 1.0C, accomplished by having a separate low-noise, bandwidth- limited amplifier per thermocouple channel. Either seven- or fourteen-thermocouple input channel versions are available.

In addition to thermocouple inputs, DynaRes also provides 7 differential voltage input channels, with 16 bit resolution and programmable full scale input ranges from ±156 mV to ±10V. The 4 frequency input channels can measure frequency or count pulses up to 10 MHz. Two timer output channels are capable of generating square outputs up to 1 MHz. Twenty four digital I/O lines are also included, which can be programmed in 8-bit groups as either inputs or outputs.

All inputs, including TC inputs, voltage, frequency and digital, are scanned at 200,000 readings/sec, providing accurate time correlation between all inputs. Optional 16-bit/100-kHz analogue outputs can be used to generate waveforms, with a virtually infinite waveform output length possible from PC memory.