What Is Data Acquisition?

Data acquisition (DAQ) is the process of measuring an electrical or physical phenomenon such as voltage, current, temperature, pressure, or sound with a computer. A DAQ system consists of sensors, DAQ measurement hardware, and a computer with programmable software. Compared to traditional measurement systems, PC-based DAQ systems exploit the processing power, productivity, display, and connectivity capabilities of industry-standard computers providing a more powerful, flexible, and cost-effective measurement solution.

Parts of a DAQ System | See a complete guide to building a measurement system

Sensors DAQ Boards and Devices Computer and Software

What Is a Computers Role in a DAQ System?

A computer with programmable software controls the operation of the DAQ device and is used for processing, visualizing, and storing measurement data. Different types of computers are used in different types of applications. A desktop may be used in a lab for its processing power, a laptop may be used in the field for its portability, or an industrial computer may be used in a manufacturing plant for its ruggedness. Read more about how to choose the right computer for your application

What Are the Different Software Components in a DAQ System?

Driver Software Driver software provides application software the ability to interact with a DAQ device. It simplifies communication with the DAQ device by abstracting low-level hardware commands and register-level programming. Typically, DAQ driver software exposes an application programming interface (API) that is used within a programming environment to build application software. Read the important things you should consider when evaluating driver software Application Software Application software facilitates the interaction between the computer and user for acquiring, analyzing, and presenting measurement data. It is either a prebuilt application with predefined functionality, or a programming environment for building applications with custom functionality. Custom applications are often used to automate multiple functions of a DAQ device, perform signal-processing algorithms, and display custom user interfaces. Read five things you should consider when choosing application software Learn how to choose the right visualization tools for your application Review questions for how to choose the right data reporting tools for your application

What Is a DAQ Device?

DAQ hardware acts as the interface between a computer and signals from the outside world. It primarily functions as a device that digitizes incoming analog signals so that a computer can interpret them. The three key components of a DAQ device used for measuring a signal are the signal conditioning circuitry, analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and computer bus. Many DAQ devices include other functions for automating measurement systems and processes. For example, digital-to-analog converters (DACs) output analog signals, digital I/O lines input and output digital signals, and counter/timers count and generate digital pulses

Key Measurement Components of a DAQ Device

Signal Conditioning Signals from sensors or the outside world can be noisy or too dangerous to measure directly. Signal conditioning circuitry manipulates a signal into a form that is suitable for input into an ADC. This circuitry can include amplification, attenuation, filtering, and isolation. Some DAQ devices include built-in signal conditioning designed for measuring specific types of sensors. Learn more about the different types of signal conditioning Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) Analog signals from sensors must be converted into digital before they are manipulated by digital equipment such as a computer. An ADC is a chip that provides a digital representation of an analog signal at an instant in time. In practice, analog signals continuously vary over time and an ADC takes periodic samples of the signal at a predefined rate. These samples are transferred to a computer over a computer bus where the original signal is reconstructed from the samples in software. Learn the basics of analog sampling Computer Bus DAQ devices connect to a computer through a slot or port. The computer bus serves as the communication interface between the DAQ device and computer for passing instructions and measured data. DAQ devices are offered on the most common computer buses including USB, PCI, PCI Express, and Ethernet. More recently, DAQ devices have become available for 802.11 Wi-Fi for wireless communication. There are many types of buses, and each offers different advantages for different types of applications.

How People Use NI Data Acquisition

Engineers and scientists in nearly every industry, application, and region of the world trust and use National Instruments data acquisition (DAQ) products. Whether its for validating and verifying a design prototype, teaching in a university lab, diagnosing a machine malfunction, or controlling a manufacturing process, NI has proven measurement solutions that can meet your needs and make you successful.

Research and Analysis

Characterizing and logging behaviors or properties Discovering scientific phenomena Systematically investigating new products and designs

Design Validation and Verification

Confirming that a system meets initial design specifications Establishing evidence that a product meets its users needs Testing adherence to an industry standard

Manufacturing and Quality Test

Performing functional and system-level product test

End-of-line pass/fail quality testing Checking for defective products and subsystems

Diagnostics and Repair

Indentifying the cause of failure Manual and ad-hoc troubleshooting Characterizing malfunctioning systems

Asset Condition Monitoring

Long-term, continuous monitoring of equipment Identifying problems before failure occurs Trending, logging, and alarming in the event of error conditions

PC-Based Control and Automation

Controlling processes without human interaction Automating the operation of machinery Performing open-loop and closed-loop control, such as PID

Introduction
Predictive and preventive maintenance requires some means of assessing the actual condition of the machinery, and we can often detect early failure using condition monitoring techniques. We needed to build a continuous machine condition monitoring system to capture real-time data from equipment under test, such as rotating and reciprocating machinery. By comparing actual and desired performance behavior, we can predict and identify problems before they actually cause the equipment to stop working, thereby reducing the overall number of failures. Although machine condition monitoring traditionally relies on vibration measurements, the performance of preventive machine condition monitoring can integrate other process parameters using deterministic and stochastic measurement analysis. Vibration is the harmonic, periodic, and random motion of a rotating machine. To monitor vibration, we use a sensor that separates the frequencies and quantifies the amplitude. Because vibration frequency and amplitude cannot be measured by sight or touch, the instrument helps convert the vibration into a usable quantity that can be processed and displayed along a frequency axis. The sensor output shows how fast the machine is moving (frequency) and how much the machine is moving (amplitude). Vibrational frequency indicates the problem with the machine, and the amplitude indicates the relative severity of the problem. Certain frequencies only occur in the presence of conditions that indicate an impending defect. By comparing the vibration spectra of new equipment with the spectra of faulty equipment, we can determine when to intervene for maintenance. Misalignment and looseness commonly generate vibrations in operating machines, and even a small amount of imbalance can cause high distortion in the signal. Due to the sophistication of LabVIEW, we expanded the capabilities of our system. In addition to vibration monitoring, we took rotational speed and motor flux into account. We used the NI Sound and Vibration Measurement Suite to divide the frequency spectrum into bands correlated with established potential failure causes. For instance, rotor imbalance often produces a recognizable vibration signal with a frequency that is one times the turning speed of the machine, and offset misalignment often produces a vibration signal with a frequency that is two times the turning speed of the machine. We used a fan motor as the benchmark for vibration analysis because it can generate blade pass frequency, which is the number of blades times the speed. The experimental procedure consists of three segments, namely the test bench setup, the sensing setup, and the data handling setup. Figure 1 shows a representation of our simple block diagram. The test bench includes a reference motor in good condition, a faulty motor with the same specifications, and an NI USB-6008 as the hardware interface to the system. The sensing setup includes an accelerometer to measure vibration, optical encoders to measure speed, and a National Semiconductor LM35 to measure temperature.

Data Acquisition, Analysis, and Presentation

We used NI USB DAQ to communicate the sensor measurements into the LabVIEW environment. We also used the low-cost multifunction NI USB-6008 DAQ device to acquire and capture the test data to disk for analysis. The USB6008 uses the NI-DAQmx driver software and works with LabVIEW. In addition, we developed a programming interface for data acquisition, which uses the Sound and Vibration Measurement Suite to analyze the data and determine which part of the equipment under test failed. The hardware setup, which acquires the current and voltage data, connects with a PC running Windows OS via the USB hub and the NI-DAQmx driver software. We also developed a GUI so users can understand and evaluate the entire system under test. Motor A represents a reference motor in good condition and Motor B represents a similar motor in bad condition. Figure 5 shows the vibration results for a short test and a longer test, respectively.

Iron manufacturing plants supply the steel industry with molten iron and raw materials. Coke, a solid carbon fuel and carbon source used to melt and reduce iron ore, and sinter are also needed for blast furnace iron manufacturing, and are supplied by the coke furnace and the ore-sintering plant, respectively. The ore-sintering plant produces sinter as the raw material for blast-furnace iron making. During the primary processing procedure, the raw materials iron ore, flux (such as limestone), and coke breeze are made into pellets by adding water to the mixing cylinder and mixing evening, and then sent in their specified mixture ratios to the sintering machine for calcination. After the agglomerated sinter has been crushed and filtered, the five to 50 mm sinter pellets are sent to the blast furnace as the primary raw material for iron making.

Difficulties Encountered in the Sintering Plant

The sintering permeability (JPU) is an important indicator for testing the agglomeration status during the agglomeration process. The permeability status during the manufacturing process is ultimately determined by the ventilation quantity of the air exhaust system. In the air exhaust system, the sintering machine comes into the most direct contact with the raw materials and is the easiest location for gas leaks to occur. The sintering machine structure is made up of many sintering pallets with sealing devices located in front and behind each one. These devices come into contact with a hard metal plate at the bottom of the pallet beam and the side of the bellows. To prevent rubbing against the sharp sintering charge during the sintering process, which results in scratching and air leakage, expansion space is required. If the sintering machine pallet has a leak, ventilation decreases, which causes difficulties in forming the pellets and decreases sinter output. An intact sintering pallet uses less electricity and has a lower system fan load because it does not have any leaks. A pallet with a leak requires the fan to rotate at a higher speed to maintain a certain amount of ventilation, so the motor driving the fan provides a higher drive current and wastes more energy. To increase the productivity of our sintering plant, we needed an effective way to test for the air leakage sources and analyze the leakage data as the basis for regular overhaul and replacement of the sintering pallets.

Past Methods for Leakage Testing

In the past, we used man power to perform air leakage tests during the sintering machine operations. Under conditions where a lot of dust and noise (approximately 90 to 110 dB) were present for extended periods of time, personnel had to make judgments based on what they could see and hear. However, tracing the source of a leak can be very difficult because leaks can occur at different points such as the charge level or the pallet. In addition, the degree of noise made by the leak is not necessarily related to the amount of air leaked. It is difficult to judge if a leak is serious by simply listening to the leak. Moreover, manual test results are difficult to quantify and record and cannot be used as a reliable reference for sintering pallet overhaul. To increase the test rate and prevent health risks to personnel under extended exposure to these poor working conditions, we wanted to establish an automated air leak testing system that allows personnel to conduct immediate testing and monitoring of the air leak status of all sintering pallets by operating the system in an electrical room. We also wanted to use this system to carry out signal analysis and data recording as the basis for future sintering pallet overhauls.

Choosing NI Products
The value of information technology (IT) lies in the ability to analyze problems qualitatively and quantitatively to visualize the problem. To establish an air leakage testing system, we needed to know how to identify the air leak, how to identify the nature of different leaks and quantify the extent of their effect, and how to select the pallets most in need of maintenance based on considerations of planned maintenance and work capability. Before we chose a signal acquisition and analysis platform, we considered factors such as the usability of the platform programming language, computation capability, hardware communication, and long-term reliability. NI provides a variety of reliable, modular hardware that targets each different measurement need and pairs NI LabVIEW with the various toolkits. With this solution, we quickly developed a highly flexible, highly integrated customized system that fully met our needs and considerations. This system combines a sound array, radio-

frequency identification (RFID) technology, and the NI PXI platform to provide an excellent solution for an automated air leakage testing system.

Developing a Solution
We developed regulations for optimized testing using an acoustic pressure microphone based on air noise to test the pallet leakage status. At the same time, we used an array framework to fully test the leakage status of each part of the pallet, coupled with an NI PXI chassis, an NI PXI-8106 embedded controller, and an NI PXI-4472 dynamic data acquisition (DAQ) module to collect data. We used LabVIEW as the development platform to accelerate the feasibility of inspection, verification, and the implementation method as well as to test the stability of the system. By providing immediate pallet leakage information and proper maintenance, we saved energy, reduced carbon emissions, increased production, and increased product quality.

Test Results
We installed the complete automated test system in our top sintering plant to test and record the leakage status of each pallet. After repairing the 20 pallets with the most serious leaks based on the measurement data, we acquired favorable results. The average production quantity prior to periodic repairs was 6,205 tons per day; after periodic repairs, the average output was 6,292 tons per day, an increase of approximately 87 tons per day and an output rate increase of 0.65 percent. Because the sintering pallet system operates 24 hours per day except during periodic repairs we repaired only 20 pallets and markedly increased the output. While maintaining a fixed output, decreasing the leakage of the sintering pallets with the intention of increasing effective ventilation can decrease the load on the sintering pallet fan and thereby decrease the propulsion current needed by the propulsion fan motor. The energy expended prior to repairs was 3,282 kWs/h compared with 3,245 kWs/h expended after repairs, resulting in an average annual savings of approximately NTD 540,000 (more than $16,000 USD) per year in electrical costs. Throughout the entire sintering process, each kilowatt-hour produced 0.637 kg of carbon dioxide; after using the system, the carbon dioxide discharge amount decreased by approximately 198 tons per year. Moreover, low air leakage increases the percentage of passing sinter. Thus, the amount of sinter that needs to be recovered decreases, which reduces recovery costs and avoids power costs incurred by resintering. Moreover, the sintered ore is the primary raw material for blast furnace molten iron. When an inadequate quantity of sintered ore is provided for the blast furnace, we have to externally purchase coking coal pellets as a substitute for the raw material. In the past, the sintered ore-to-pellet ratio used during the smelting process was approximately 78 to 22 percent. After conducting the periodic repairs, the amount of sinter provided by the sintering plant increased markedly, and the sintered ore-to-pellet ratio has reached 82 to 18 percent. We calculated that the increased output efficiency of using sintered ore instead of pellets is approximately NTD 18 million per year. Furthermore, we improved the combustion efficiency using sintered ore as the raw material over pellets and increased sintered ore and blast furnace outputs, which conserved energy used by the blast furnace and lowered overall steel production costs.

The Benefits of Choosing NI Hardware and Software

NI engineers provided service and support for the system development and assisted us in accelerating development and testing the viability of our green energy engineering solution. With the pallet air leakage testing system, sintered ore product quality and output are markedly increased and we will use this technology in other sintering plants in the future. Our solution has provided effective, substantial help in increasing personnel safety, saving energy, decreasing carbon emissions, and increasing productivity.