Alicat flow controllers

[emmagift97]

Hello guys. I'm new at labview so I want to make a code for connecting a usb 6000 daq board to alicat flow controllers and will be able to read data. Can someone please share the vi that will help me. Thanks in advance 

Regards

[Kevin_Alicat · Accepted solution]

Hi Emmagift97,

The USB-6000 would be interfacing with the Alicat via analog I/O signals. For this, you'd want to make sure that the device is properly wired (see https://www.alicat.com/knowledge-base/alicat-pinouts/ to find the pinout that matches the part number on the found on the back of the Alicat).

It looks like the USB-6000 only has an analog input and no analog output, meaning you will be able to read an analog data output from the Alicat but not provide setpoints. The voltage output of the Alicat and the common ground need to be wired up to the analog input channel of the DAQ device. At that point, the LabVIEW programming becomes a standard DAQ operation (I believe there are examples in the example finder) where you would then have to translate the input voltage to a flow/pressure/temperature (e.g. if the device is 0-10 SLPM and outputs 0-5 VDC tied to mass flow, 1.234 VDC would correspond to 2.468 SLPM).

The LabVIEW code found here: https://www.alicat.com/support/software-drivers/labview-virtual-instrument-drivers/ can be made to work with standard RS-232 or RS-485 Alicat devices with just a USB to 232 or USB to 485 converter (depending on the model of Alicat.... an RS-485 Alicat would not work on RS-232 lines).