The Eighth International Conference on Electronic Measurement and Instruments

ICEMI2007

Design of the Measurement System of the Pump Based on

LabVIEW
He Wenhai
School of Mechanical Engineering, Xian University of Science and Technology, Xian 710054 China
Abstract: Pump plays a key role because it is an important
device used to drain water in mine. It is very significant to keep
it working normally. The flow velocity and the flux of the
pump are the typical indexes that can indict its state. A
measurement system that can measure these two indexes is
designed to detect the state of the pump. The virtual instrument
technology based on LabVIEW is used to build the software
part of this measurement system. The ultrasonic sensor is also
used in this system. Because of the use of this sensor, the pump
can be detected without stopping working. The mathematical
model of the correlation function for processing the discrete
signal is built. The signal from the DAQ card is processed
based on the model above. The value of the flow velocity and
the flux is obtained. The precision and efficiency of the
measurement are enhanced.
Key works: pump; flow velocity; flux; virtual instrument;

processed manually after measurement. The large

error, low efficiency and small content of information
are the defect of the traditional method. The virtual
instrument technology integrates the computer
technology, the information technology and the
measurement technology. Intelligence and digitization
are its characteristic. The measurement level can be
enhanced if the virtual instrument technology is used
to detect the pump.
There are so many indexes that can be used to
estimate the state of the pump. The flow velocity and
the flux are typical ones in these indexes. These two
indexes can describe the state of the pump directly.
The virtual instrument based on LabVIEW is used in
this paper to measure the flow velocity and the flux of
the pump.

LabVIEW

2
1

Introduction

Pump is an important device that is used to drain

water in mine. This device plays an important role.
The work condition of the pump is as serious as other
devices used in mine. On the other hand, the pump is
often moved because of the need of the work. All of
these reasons cause the failure rate of the pump is
often higher than other industrial devices. If the pump
does not work, the coal production will be affected.
Sometimes the lives of workers are menaced. So it is
very necessary to detect the state of the pump.
The traditional detection method depends mainly on
the worker and the traditional instrument. The data is

1-4244-1135-1/07/$25.00 2007 IEEE.

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2.1

Method and principle of the

measurement system

Method of the measurement

The fact work condition of the pump is the
precondition of the choice of the measurement method.
It is known that the pump works in mine where is
wateriness. Then, every device including the
measurement instrument must satisfy the flame-proof
need. The ultrasonic sensor is selected according to
the fact condition above. Because the ultrasonic sensor
is used, the flow velocity and the flux of the pump can
be measured without stopping working.
2.2 Principle of the measurement
The principle of the measurement is shown in
Fig.1. During measuring, two ultrasonic sensors that
are all composed of sensor and emitter are installed on
the pipe of the pump.

The Eighth International Conference on Electronic Measurement and Instruments

The flux of the pump satisfies

Q AL / tmax

LabVIEW
Program

Computer
y(t)
Sensor 2

Sensor 1
v

dl

Emitter 2

Emitter1
L

Fig.1 Principle of the

measurement system

It is known from Fig.1 that the distance between

two sensors is L. It is assumed that ultrasonic impulse
from the Emitter 1 at time t1. At this time, a fluid
element whose length is dl goes by the Emitter 1. This
fluid element has physical effect on the ultrasonic
impulse. The impulse that has be affected by the fluid
element is transformed into the electric signal x(t) by
the Sensor 1. It is assumed that the velocity of the
fluid element is v. At time t2, the fluid element goes by
the Emitter 2. This fluid element can also have the
seam physical effect on the ultrasonic impulse form
the Emitter 2. So this impulse is transform into the
electric signal y(t) by the Sensor 2. It is known that
when and only when t=t=t2-t1, the function
Rxy (t )

(3)

where A is the area of the pipe of the pump.

DAQ card

x(t)

ICEMI2007

Measurement software

The measurement software is built based on

LabVIEW. This software is the core of the
measurement system. The signal from the DAQ card
will be processed by it. The software is composed of
two parts, namely the front panel and the block
diagram.
3.1 The front panel of the software
It is shown in Fig.2 that the front panel is same as
the control panel of the traditional measurement
instrument. The front panel severs as the interface
between the virtual instrument and the user. The front
panel consists of the controls and the indictors. The
user can input the necessary parameters into the
measurement system through the controls. The
measurement result can be shown to the user through
the indictors.
V irtualSignal

Signalw aveform
10

Frequency A m plitude

Phase1

Phase2

-10

20

40 60 80 100
Tim e (s)

D A Q C ad
D evice

C hannel

C orrelation w aveform

10

Scan rate

N um ber

f

x(W ) y (W  t )dW

(1)

M easurem ent
Param eter

f

can obtain the maximal value. The function shown in

Eq.(1) is the correlation function of the signals x(t)
and y(t).
It is known from the analysis above that t is
time when the fluid element goes from the Emitter 1
to the Emitter 2. If the signals x(t) and y(t) are
processed by the formula such as Eq.(1), t can be
obtained. So the flow velocity satisfies
v L / tmax
(2)

-10
0

A rea

D istance

20

40 60 80 100
Tim e (us)

R esultof m easurem ent

D ata saving path

Flow V elocity

Type of siganl
V irtual

Fig.2

Flux

PO W ER

A ctual

Front panel of the measurement system

It is shown in Fig.2 that there is a measurement

type switch, namely the Type of signal on the front
panel. When switching to the Virtual item, all
signals that are processed by the software come from

where tmax is the time that corresponds to the maximal

value of the correlation function.
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The Eighth International Conference on Electronic Measurement and Instruments

the signal generator of the software itself but not from

the DAQ card. When its result satisfies the precision,
it means that the initial parameters of the software are
rational. So the true signal from the DAQ card can be
processed.
It is shown from Fig.2 that the front panel of the
measurement software is composed of some dialog
box groups.
The first group is the Virtual Signal group. In
this group the parameters of the generator, for
example the amplitude, the frequency and the phase
are inputted.
The second group is the DAQ Card group. The
Device dialog box is used to define the DAQ card of
the measurement system. The Channel dialog box is
used to define the channel from which the signal from
the DAQ card is inputted into the computer. The
Scan rate dialog box is used to define the number of
the signal acquired by the DAQ card in unit time. The
Number dialog box is used to define the total
number of the signal acquired by the DAQ card. The
Distance dialog box is used to define the distance
between two ultrasonic sensors. The Area dialog
box is used to define the area of the pipe of the pump.
On the front panel, the Signal waveform
window is used to show the waveform of the signal
from the DAQ card. The Correlation waveform
window is used to show the result of the correlation
analysis. The Flow velocity indictor and the Flux
indictor are used to show the value of the flow
velocity and the flux respectively. The Saving data
path dialog box is used to define the path of saving
the result.
3.2 The block diagram of the software
Processing the signals is the main function of the
block diagram. The data flow of the signals in the
block diagram is shown in Fig.3.
It is known from Fig.3 that user can check and
adjust the parameters of the measurement system
before measuring the actual signals.
During measurement, the signals from the DAQ
card must be filtered because they involve noise.
In fact, the signals are all transformed into the
arrays after filtering. These arrays are used as the
variables of the correlation function. After correlation
analysis, the result is shown in the Correlation
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ICEMI2007

waveform window of the front panel, and the values

of the flow velocity and flux are obtained.
Start

Edit the
parameters
N Measure the
virtual signal

Measure the
actual signal?
Y

Result is
accurate?

Acquire the
signal from DAQ

Signal filter

Correlation
analysis

Output the
waveform of
x(t) and y(t)

Output the value

of the result

Save data
End

Fig.3 Data flow measurement

In fact, the signal x(t) and y(t) from the DAQ

card are discrete but not continual. So in the
measurement software these signals are regarded as
two discrete signal series, namely xi and yi (0iN1).
The discrete signal series must be expended in order
that they can be analyzed by the correlation function.
After expand, the new discrete series satisfy
xj

xi

0 d j d N 1
j  0, j t N

(4)

yj

yi

0 d j d N 1
j  0, j t N

(5)

and

The new series xj and yj can be computed by the

new correlation function
N 1

Rj

x y
l

l j

(6)

l 0

where j=(N1), (N2), , N2, N1.

It is shown from Eq.(6) that j can be negative. In
order to analysis the signal in the measurement
software, the new correlation function should satisfy

The Eighth International Conference on Electronic Measurement and Instruments

Rxyk

ultrasonic sensor are all used to build the measurement

system. The flow velocity and the flux of the pump
used in mine are measured without stopping working.
The precision and efficiency of measurement are
enhanced.

(7)

Rk ( N 1)

ICEMI2007

where k=0, 1, 2, 2N2.

These equations above are the mathematical
model of the correlation function for the discrete
signals.
The block diagram of the software is built
according to analysis above and shown in Fig.4.

40

6
4

20

2
0

-20

-2
0

250

500

750

1000

%y:%m:%d

1000

100000

200000

Tim e (us)

Tim e (s)

"true"

Fig.5 Waveform of the

Fig.6 Correlation

initial signals

waveform

References
1

[1]He Wenhai, Ren Zhongquan. Measuring the velocity of the

tramcar based on LabVIEW, the 7th International Conference

on Electronic Measurement & Instrument, Vol.6, 2006
Statistics

[2]Park

J,

Kim

S.

Advanced

controller

design

and

implementation of a sensorized microgripper for micro

manipulation,

Proceedings-2004

IEEE

International

Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2004

Fig.4 Block diagram of the measurement

[3]Arai F, Nonoda Y. Integrated microendeffector for micro

manipulation, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics,

It is known from Fig.4 that the block diagram is

same as the circuit of the traditional measurement
instrument. The graphical code is the element of the
block diagram, and it can execute a specific function.
There is relation between the front panel and the block
diagram. For example, data can be exchanged between
the graphical codes of the block diagram and the
controls or indictors of the front panel.

Vol.3, No.1,1998
[4]Kim D H, Kim B, Kang H. Development of a piezoelectric
polymer-based sensorized microgripper for microassembly
and micromanipu-lation Microsystem Technologies, Vol.10,
No.4, 2004
[5]Haddab Y, Cha Illet N, Bourjault A. A microgripper using
smart piezoelectric actuators. IEEE International Conference
on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Vol.1, 2000
[6]Grem Inger M A, Ge Y, Nelson B J. Sensing nanonewton
level forces by visually tracking structural deformations.

Measurement result

Proceedings-IEEE International Conference on Robotics and

Automation, Vol.2, 2002

Before measurement the necessary parameters

must be inputted. For example, the distance is 0.05m,
and the area of the cross section of the pipe is 0.2m2.
After measurement the initial signal is shown in Fig.5.
And, the result of the correlation is shown in Fig.6.
The flow velocity is 0.5m/s, and the flux is
0.1m3/s. These values satisfy the precision.

[7]Takigami T, Oshima K, Hayakawa Y. Application of

self-sensing actuator to control of a soft-handling gripper.
Proceedings-IEEE Conference on Control Applications,
Vol.2 1998

Author biographies
He Wenhai graduated from Xian University of Science and
Technology in 2004, and majors in mechanical engineering.

Conclusion
The virtual instrument technology and the
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