Project challenge: Design a system that is configurable with regards to which signals it measures and visually records

The Civil Engineering Department of the University of Johannesburg in Doornfontein press and pull various materials to demonstrate theoretical principles in practice. Their desire was to have a system that could be reconfigured as to which signals it measures, depending on the requirements of the specific test, and to take a video of the test that can be replayed together with the measured data for offline analysis and study.

Among several presses in the laboratory is a Moog 200 ton press, capable of pushing and pulling up to 200 tons of force. We had to design a system to measure and record the pressures for later analysis. 
HOW DO YOU DESIGN AN EXTREMELY VERSATILE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM FOR A HYDRAULIC PRESS?

JAD solution

The Moog 200 ton press follows predefined profiles of speed or force that allow precise control of the test procedure. The JAD Systems solution comprise the following: 
  • The instrumentation system is a National Instruments SCXI 1000 chassis the following modules:
    1. SCXI 1100 16 channel voltage-based signals (inclinometers, linear potentiometers, force and displacement) .
    2. SCXI 1521, 24 channel strain gage  input module
  • A 100Frames per seccond Basler acA2500-14gm GigE camera with a Computar M1620-MPV, Ultra Low Distortion,16mm, F2.0,2/3 inch, 3MP lens with a tripod.

The system allows the researcher to specify a) what signals will be measured and b) the camera resolution and frame rate.
Once the test has started running, the instrumented signals and the instrumentation-synchronized video are displayed to the screens distributed around the lab, and saved to a hard drive.
The saved video is then replayable at various speeds including stepping through frame by frame. During replay, signals can be graphed against time or against one another to create X-Y plotting.