Torque About Visualisation

Sensor Technology has developed TorqView2, a software programme written using National Instruments LabVIEW to generate a Virtual Instrumentation Display of the output from a TorqSense transducer and can be run on virtually any computer.

TorqSense transducers measure the characteristics (torque, speed, power and positional angle) of rotating shafts in real time, using a non-contact technique that has redefined the easy and accuracy with which such data can be collected.

However many users prefer to feed that data streams through to a PC for collection and analysis, which opens up the possibility of displaying the data on a computer screen. By writing the software using LabVIEW, TorqView2 has fully configurable and scalable graphics modules, so that the information can be presented in a number of different formats including as discrete digital readouts, as analogue dials, as bar graphs, etc. User configurable inputs, such as 4-20mA signals from accelerometers allow complete customisation of TorqView2 for every application.

Data such as peak values, time-sequenced and time-stamped values, etc, can also be collected and stored in text files or spreadsheets and exported to other programmes for subsequent analysis. Text comments can be incorporated into the data, either using an auto-trigger function or discretely as the user requires.

TorqView2 incorporates an auto-scaling function that allows it to recognise the individual transducer with which it is working by reading its serial number. This also allows it to confirm its latest re-calibration date and to check security settings relating to the individual user.

Written in LabVIEW, the industry standard for instrumentation programmes, TorqView2 can be run in a standalone mode or integrated into users’ own unique programmes. It runs on all the popular Operating Systems, such as Windows 2000 and Windows NT.

“Our TorqSense transducers redefine the ease with which it is possible to collect real-time performance data from machine drive shafts,” says Tony Ingham of Sensor Technology. “TorqView2 is the user friendly front end that opens up the technology to any user.”