Is Labview The Right Program?

[Kilo_Watts]

I’m trying to decide if Labview is the right system for my project and I would appreciate any input from the community.

The project is an automated power supply DVT program, and it’s a fairly large one. The UUT can have up to 20 outputs, each one with different voltage output and loading requirements. In addition to whole unit tests I’ll also need to perform 5 tests on each output. Those tests would be the standards: regulation, ripple, stepload, and turn-on/off overshoot. I plan to communicate with my various instruments over GPIB.

After poking around with the Labview evaluation program for a week or so I have no doubt that LV can perform all the tests I require. My concern is how big the VI will have to be to accomplish this, and how to structure the program. The whole-unit tests like inrush current and efficiency aren’t a problem, but 20 outputs x 5 tests each = 100 tests and each has to be done at three different input voltages and three different temperatures. Finally, the whole thing has to be fire-and-forget. That is: start the test and go home.

I believe that once I have the basic test written I can simply loop the whole thing after I change the input voltage and temperature parameters. But 100 tests are a lot of subVIs! The other option might be to use one set of 5 subVIs and loop that 20 times while changing test parameters from an array preloaded with the various ‘scope and load settings as required by the particular output under test.

So I’m wondering if LV is up to this task, and if so, does anyone have any suggestion/comments on the program structure.

Thanks for any help.

[Dennis_Knutson]

I'm not sure why you think there are a large number of subVIs since you can create them to accept the different parameters and call them multiple times. For example, a subVI to change channels, a subVI to take a specific measurement, etc. LabVIEW is as capable of handling the testing as any text based language.

I've had programs that performed very similar and also much more complex tests. You might also want to consider running the VIs from TestStand. That is a test executive that is purposely designed for automatic testing and among other things, has built-in functionality for logging and reporting so you don't have to write this yourself.

[JÞB]

You are right to be concerned about architecting a large scale program from scratch with only a week of self paced training.

TestStand might be of benefit as well but, then you have TWO development envionments to learn.  

A "Typical" project in this situation becomes a painful learning experience where you learn the hard way how not to structure your test.  Better practice is to first make sure you have access to at least the online self-paced courses (and dedicate some time for Training) AND to team up with a Certified LabVIEW Consultant or another local NI Alliance partner to help you achieve "Success" without the pain of several failed attempts.  After all, that is why NI invests in a Partner program- to help you "Build This - Not That."

[Kilo_Watts]

Dennis,

Thanks for the pointer toward TestStand and the suggestion about re-using subVIs.

Those were the kind of suggestions I was looking for when I posted.

[Kilo_Watts]

Jeff,

Thanks for your concern and guidance.

I really did not expect to be an expert in a week, just to get an idea if the program had the versatility to meet my needs.

I've been pleased with the versatility but the structure was a question mark, and so I posted here.

I actually have 6-9 months to get something together and will certainly investigate the Partner Program you suggested.