The Problem

Touchstone Laboratory required a torsion testing system for a new product being developed by the company. The laboratory’s engineers designed the mechanical components of the machine but software was required to acquire data and to control the operation of the machine.

The Solution

REAL Controls developed software to control a servo motor and simultaneously acquire data from a load cell, strain gages and an encoder. The software provides both automatic and manual control of the torsion tester. An easy to use graphical operator interface, as shown above, provides the technician with complete control of the system and displays the results of the test, in real time. Manual mode allows the technician to jog the servo motor in either forward or reverse direction at a programmable rate. REAL Controls also developed the software communication driver for the servo motor controller. The communication software allows the program to transmit speed, direction and acceleration commands to the servo drive.

The Result

The software integrates the hardware components into a functional testing system. A graphical operator interface allows the laboratory technician to easily operate the torsion testing system, to acquire data needed for analysis of the new product, to view the results of each test, in real time on the PC screen and to store the data for future analysis.