Mass flowmeter TSI 4040 with RS 232 serial and Basic write read .vi

[Nikolian]

Dear People!!!

I am trying to measure flow and temperature with the TSI 4040 flowmeter who is connected with a RS 232 serial to the computer by using the Basic write read .vi given by National Instrument Examples.

The settings of the Flow meter are:

Baud Rate........ 38.4 k
Data Bits .......... 8
Parity................ None
Stop Bits .......... 1
Flow Control..... None

And the instruction I give to the write panel is  DBFTx0001 for having Flow and Temperature and 1 sample of data. I am using Windows XP and from the Device Manager panel of the Control Panel I have manually selected the COM which the Mass flowmeter is assign. Thus I am sure that the COM I am choosing on my .vi is the correct one.

When I start the .vi I can not get any read values or bytes. Does anybody knows what I could do to make it work?

I know that there is a specific software from TSI which is made to be used with the flowmeter but my main purpose is to have the basic write and read .vi  with 2 other .vi which I have build to calculate temperature and pressures from my DAQcard. Thus to have synchronization of data. I have try to use the basic write and read .vi alone with the other two .vi and it still doesn't want to work.

Thank you for your help.

Alex

[Matt_L]

Hi Alex,

It may be easier to troubleshoot serial communication from a VISA Test Panel in Measurement and Automation Explorer, just to rule out any issues with those LabVIEW examples.  Try opening MAX and under My System->Devices and Interfaces->Serial and Parallel, you should see a COM port associated with your device.  From there, you should see a button at the top to open a VISA Test Panel.  Try entering the settings you listed there and writing the command you want to test, and let us know how that goes.

[billko]

since you are using XP, try using hyperterminal to talk to it, also.

[Nikolian]

Dear Matt

I went to MAX and I was able to find my massflow controler. Which was at the port I was expecting. I could play around with the option which is very nice. But....

This is all nice and good but I still don't understand something. How is it possible to do data acquisition with a mass flowmeter. All the softwares provided to be used with the flowmeter they only send data and read data. But there is no software that let me save the data in a file so we can work with them in a later stage. 

This is why I wanted to use the basic write read .vi to be able to put a write to measurement module and the read part of the .vi. 

it is very strage. Neither TSI or NI have a program that lets you record the data. Just for seeing it on panels or on the screen of the flowmeter

Do you know how this could be done?

Alex

[Nikolian]

🙂 ok maybe i talked a little fast. I can see your answer...... And what about the NI tracer? 

Can I use it for data acquisition? And if I can  do you think i can put the NI tracer inside a .vi?

thank you for your help

Alex

[billko]

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@Nikolian wrote:

🙂 ok maybe i talked a little fast. I can see your answer...... And what about the NI tracer? 

Can I use it for data acquisition? And if I can  do you think i can put the NI tracer inside a .vi?

thank you for your help

Alex

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If you can dig the data out of the equipment, there's no reason you can't save it in a file.  😉  Have you looked at the File I/O palette at all?