Paper Authors

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Main Menu

Session 3233

LABVIEW APPLICATION: ENERGY LABORATORY UPGRADE

J. Howard Arthur

Michael R. Sexton

Mechanical Engineering Department Virginia Military Institute Lexington, VA 24450

Abstract

This paper describes an effort to upgrade the quality and timeliness of the VMI’s Mechanical Engineering Department Energy Laboratory. Two of the current laboratory experiments were selected for modernization. These experiments were a steam power plant experiment and a cooling tower experiment. Both of these experiments were old, but the machinery was in good condition. The upgrades include modern instrumentation and data analysis capability, which made these old experiments valuable teaching resources for many more years. The hardware and software necessary for both of these experiment upgrades is discussed and budget estimates are provided.

Both of the equipment upgrades described in this paper were accomplished using Labview. Labview is a graphical programming language specifically designed to interface data acquisition system (DAS) hardware to a user-friendly (graphical) computer environment. With Labview, many different types of DAS hardware can be controlled from the computer keyboard. The interface for each of the current experiments, as well as future equipment upgrades, was designed in a similar fashion, thereby reducing the learning curve for each new hardware component. This means that instead of having to run multiple programs from different vendors, each with a different user interface, a common user interface can be developed for each instrument. Labview can be used not only for data acquisition or instrument control applications, but also for general- purpose applications, such as database development, data analysis programs, and network communications. These features allow room for expansion of scope as new experiments using Labview are developed.

Introduction

All junior mechanical engineering students at the Virginia Military Institute are required to complete the course Mechanical Engineering Energy Laboratory. The course is a one semester, one credit hour course that meets for two hours each week. Two semesters of thermodynamics, are pre-requisites and one semester each of heat transfer and fluid mechanics are co-requisites. The laboratory course includes applied engineering investigations into the areas of energy, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer. The laboratory simulates real life engineering team experiences in the use of laboratory testing and measuring equipment. Technical report writing and laboratory safety measures and practices are stressed. During the

Main Menu

• Citation

• Format
  • APA
  • APA - LaTeX bibitem
  • MLA
  • MLA - LaTeX bibitem
  • Bibtex
  • EndNote - RIS

Arthur, H., & Sexton, M. (2002, June), Labview Application: Energy Laboratory Upgrade Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--11206