Need Suggestion on Climate Chamber and DAQ Device

[Jarir]

Dear Community Members,

Our lab is going to start a new project, and I am assigned to the project. I want to mention that I don't have enough experience on DAQ or controlling the Climate Chambers. I will be trying to describe what my designated task is. I am looking for suggestions on the devices(Climate Chamber, DAQ Device) to be needed for the experimental setup.

Task: We want to test soft pressure sensors with a force gauge(may be, it will be connected with a linear stage) in different temperature and relative humidity condition. So that we can investigate the temp and humidity effects on the sensing characteristics on our sensor. To analyze the output we need DAQ devices. 

Specifications:
Temperature Range 10-40C

Relative Humidity Rang 50-100%

Data Acquisition Rate - 200Hz

Working Area - 2x2x2 ft3

Also, if the devices can be controlled and operated by labview, that'll be better, because I am comfortable to it.

On final note, I am relatively new to labview and experimental set-up for DAQ. I think this is a right place to get suggestions. However, if I have asked inappropriate question or I failed to articulate my question, please let me know. I look forward to your benevolent act.

Thank you

[santo_13]

An important question, do you plan to place the DAQ inside the chamber?

I would recommend cable the sensor and setup out of the chamber and let the instrumentation(DAQ) sit outside in the ambient.

What are the things you're going to measure or control using the DAQ?

• If it is just a sensor? what type - you mentioned pressure, but is the output direct analog or does it require a bridge excitation etc.?
• How about the linear stage control?

[Jarir]

First of all, thank you for your time.

It is a soft pressure sensor, so the plan is to use a linear stage to create required amount of force on the taxle of the sensor. So that we can check how the voltage for some specific amount of forces. In short, we want to measure the changes in sensitivity of the sensor in different temperature and humidity conditions. 

Yes, it will require the bridge excitation.  

[RTSLVU · Accepted solution]

We have thermal chambers from all three of these companies in our lab. ...

1. Thermotron
2. Weisstechnik
3. Tenny

I am sure there are more, but any of these companies would have a thermal chamber that fits your specifications. Communications and remote control is usually OPTIONAL so make sure you order it with the option.

As far as LabVIEW, None of these companies directly support LabVIEW, but controlling any thermal chamber I have used was fairly easy. All of these had a very simple text based command set allowing you to create set-points and ramping profiles as they have their own PID controller.

[Jarir]

Thanks for the suggestion. I am contacting the providers.

I have one more question. For example, if I have a Humidity vs Time or Temperature vs Time graph, are these climate chambers capable of replicating the graph? 

[RTSLVU]

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@Jarir wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion. I am contacting the providers.

I have one more question. For example, if I have a Humidity vs Time or Temperature vs Time graph, are these climate chambers capable of replicating the graph? 

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Yes, all of these chambers should be capable of running a temperature and/or humidity profile. 

[Jarir]

Thank you for your valuable suggestion. I appreciate your time.

On another note, what do you think of building a Temperature and Humidity of our own as it will give us the flexibility to customize whenever necessary?

Do you think that will be a good idea? and, do you have any suggestions on how we can approach to build a customized climate chamber? 

[RTSLVU]

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@Jarir wrote:

Thank you for your valuable suggestion. I appreciate your time.

On another note, what do you think of building a Temperature and Humidity of our own as it will give us the flexibility to customize whenever necessary?

Do you think that will be a good idea? and, do you have any suggestions on how we can approach to build a customized climate chamber? 

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My company has tried that several times over the years and they always failed after spending thousands of dollars. Some manager that know nothing about refrigeration will always say something like "It's just a box with a heater and air conditioner...", 

Well it takes a lot more than that to control temperature, create ramps, and thermocycling profiles, not to mention humidity control.

Unless this is something you are going to have to do a lot, you should think about going just to an environmental lab and renting time in a chamber.

[Jarir]

Yeah, it seems bit hard to achieve the desired temperature and humidity level. We might plan to buy the commercial one. Thanks for your support.

[Jarir]

Hi, 

I am requesting for one more suggestion. My supervisor is recommending to build a chamber from the scratch. Therefore, could you please suggest me a brief over view of the components required(Specially the chamber body and the humidifier) for the chamber. I already figured out a few. Still, looking for an expert opinion.

On another note, could you give me some ideas on why your colleagues failed to build the chamber? or why it is so hard to build by own? Because, I need to explain my supervisor too.