Controlling a KD Scientific Gemini 88 syringe pump in LabVIEW

[FloGeb]

Hello everybody,

I recently bought a KD Scientific Gemini 88 syringe pump and now I'm trying to control it via LabVIEW. With other models from KDS, this was possible according to the plug and play prinicple. So I copied the driver (2015 version) to the instr.lib folder and integrated into a LabVIEW project. I connected the pump to the laptop with LabVIEW and driver via USB. When starting the example VI that came with the driver, the pump didn't react to any of the commands. Only the "Stopped" LED was switched on. However, I didn't receive an error message. Any ideas how I could solve this issue?

Best,

Florian

[JÞB]

It looks like you have the right LabVIEW Instrument driver.

Did you install the pump hardware driver? See pg 34 of the users manual.  Are the Address and Baud rate correct? I imagine that you should be seeing some error but, perhaps the Instrument driver is obfuscating that.

[FloGeb]

Yes, I've installed the pump hardware driver. Address and Baud rate can be set both in the pump menu and in the LabVIEW code. I set the address to "0" and the Baud rate to "9600" in both cases.

The manual mentions software upgrades, but apparently you need some kind of .srec file with the latest version. However, I couldn't find any file like this.

[JÞB]

https://www.kdscientific.com/technical-resources/common-questions.html 

Does the display show a remote indicator?  Can you check the correct cable configuration? Can you communicate with hyperterminal?

Open the "I'm having trouble communicating via the RS-232 port" tab in the link above

[FloGeb]

I have also contacted the manufacturer, who in the meantime has answered to my inquiry. Here is his reply:

Hello

I am sorry, but there is no pre-made Labview VI file for this pump model (the one that you downloaded was for an obsolete pump that this one replaced)

Instead, These pumps can be controlled by sending them  'Pump Chain' commands (plain ASCII) from a serial communications VI in Labview.

the full list of the pump chain commands is published in the back of the manual

Best regards

Anton

So I guess I have to try using a serial communications VI. Let's see where I can find more information about this approach...

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[JÞB · Accepted solution]

You will be better off using a VISA serial instr IO class than the serial communications vis.

Sadly, the instrument driver network claims the driver was tested on a model 88.  

Please do not forget to go back to the download page and press the Submit Feedback button.

[FloGeb]

I tried using the VISA serial instr I/O class, seems to work out.

I just realized that the pump model is called "Gemini 88 plus" on the manufacturer's website, but the driver is for "Gemini 88", without "plus". So probably I should have realized that there might be two different models. Anyway, it is still rather confusing.

[rolfk]

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@FloGeb wrote:

I tried using the VISA serial instr I/O class, seems to work out.

I just realized that the pump model is called "Gemini 88 plus" on the manufacturer's website, but the driver is for "Gemini 88", without "plus". So probably I should have realized that there might be two different models. Anyway, it is still rather confusing.

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If you look at the instrument driver you downloaded you will see that it uses 3 letter commands throughout. In the manual for your Plus device it states:

Commands may be abbreviated to the first four letters. For example,
“address” could be abbreviated “addr”. A space must follow the
command if arguments are included.

So definitely a question of a not compatible command set. You may use the existing driver as a starting point but I'm sure it is more complex than just extending all commands to 4 letters (if they have 4 letters, some seem to only have 3 letters anyways).

The most likely reason for this is probably that the Plus model supports much more functionality to be controlled through the remote control interface and that caused more commands to be invented that would be ambiguous if abbreviated to 3 letters only.

[JÞB]

I agree with Rolf here. You should likely start with the existing driver as a template ( but give the new library a new name)

OTOH, "ADDRess <param>" would be SCPI compliant where "add" would not. Take a half hour to Google SCPI and save yourself a few hours.