Simulation in labview

[truskawka]

Hello, I would like to create a basic simulation for a vacuum chamber. Basic simulation will have Chamber, targets, sample holder etc. What can be the best way of this? Using labview or any other apps?

[altenbach]

LabVIEW will be fine for this. Just do a few tutorials first. 😉

Still, it is not obvious what you are trying to simulate. What is "basic"? What are "targets"? What goes into the sample holders"? What should be simulated (vacuum pump on/off, vacuum reading? Vacuum leaks? Vacuum control?, safety interlocks? etc.). How does the user interact with the simulation?

[truskawka]

I would like to simulate a chamber sth like the picture i shared below. There are 4 Sputter on top, there is one sample holder and shutter in the bottom. i would like to simulate with colors if the component is working or not during the process.  

[cbutcher]

"Simulate" is still a little unclear (at least to me). The use of that word typically indicates a desire to show something without hardware - is this what you mean? I.e. a software/computer demo of a future/remote physical system.

If instead you want to control/implement such a system (in the future, or now) then the question is probably more "how do I write an application to control a bunch of "sputters" (?), holders (translation stage, maybe?) and a shutter?" rather than "Can I simulate a chamber of those items?".

You can then use simulated hardware (which you may or may not find existing drivers/software for, alternatively you might need to write it yourself) to replace physical hardware, for the purpose of showing off your system without actually needing to plug in real hardware.

If you just want an animation/light show/demo and have no intention of ever connecting physical hardware (either locally or to a remote hardware system) then probably some graphics/animation software is more suitable (instead of a programming language/setup like LabVIEW).

[truskawka]

Ok, I'll explain more.

I would like to draw a chamber like previous post and indicate all the components there. If a sputter is working i would like to light on a Boolean there and if sample holder is rotating i would like to indicate it for the user. (Sputter is the component on the top of the chamber, those 4 ones. And sample holder is in the bottom)

i would like t know what can be the best way to do t. I don't want sth way too complicate but also too simple.

[cbutcher]

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@truskawka wrote:

I would like to draw a chamber like previous post and indicate all the components there. If a sputter is working i would like to light on a Boolean there and if sample holder is rotating i would like to indicate it for the user. (Sputter is the component on the top of the chamber, those 4 ones. And sample holder is in the bottom)

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What does "working" mean? Will there be some real (physical) sputter? Do you want to (can you?) find its current state?

Or are you instead trying to write code to test your software's behaviour during (expected/feared) hardware faults. In that case, maybe no hardware is necessary - you can have some separate (for the purposes of simulation only) inputs that control the "state" of your simulated system, including whether or not the sputter is working.

If instead you're trying to display the state of a currently existing physical system, you only need to find a way (using drivers, existing or that you write) to assess the state of each component, and refresh them over time. Then you can light up booleans, rotate graphics, set numeric indicators etc according to the current system. 

[truskawka]

Yes there is a physical sputter system which is controlling by labview program. and i want to indicate the working components in the program. and i am already controlling all the states. 

i want to find the best way to indiace those components in the program. imprting picture, drawing in the labview or drawing in some other app, which could be easier i need to find

[cbutcher]

If you can share your existing code, it might be easier to give better guidance.

Do you already know (in LabVIEW) if a given component is working, and what it's state is?

Do you have the information that you want to display available to you?

[altenbach]

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@truskawka wrote:

Yes there is a physical sputter system which is controlling by labview program. and i want to indicate the working components in the program. and i am already controlling all the states. 

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Once you have a physical system, it is no longer a simulation.

[stevem181]

It sounds like you want to better visualize the information you already have.

You can use picture rings to hold images of the different states you want to show for each component.

For example I use this technique for valves that have states: Open, Closed, Open going to Closed,

and Closed going to Open.

Png is a good image format for LabVIEW that let's you maintain transparency (if you do it right).

I recommend Paint.net as a good tool to use for this work - capable but not too complex.

I suggest keeping the background (Chamber) simple perhaps just using the decorations (lines) if possible.

You can use an image, but this can affect performance.