measurement of tuning speed and time of Piezoelectric stack actuator

[MPB comm]

Hi
I am working on a project on tuning Fiber bragg grating by compressing it. I am using PZT actuator for fast tuning. I am using labview software to control the motion of PZt actuator. The amplifier and controller are connected to computer through NI PCI6052E card. I was wondering how to program the labview software that when i give signal to move the pzt actuator then i can actually see how much time it took to move from one point to another.and how I can actually measure the time it took to travel to the final position graphically.
Thanks

[Brent_R]

What type of signals are you using for the control and feedback? Are you using the analog output for control and the analog input to measure the position? If so, you can configure the board to perform both operations simultaneously, even using the same clock for input and output. This way you can overlay the stimulus data from the analog output, with the acquired position data from the analog input and see the response of your device. We have several examples that show how to do simultaneous AO/AI. Take a look at the link below for one example.

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/explprog.nsf/6c163603265406328625682a006ed37d/913e26ccf1019bbb862566eb007bb202?OpenDocument

Regards,

Brent R
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[Filipe A.]

Hello;

The only way to have an accurate measurement of the elapsed time is if your actuator has some sort of feedback signal. If it does, than you can use that signal to start and stop one of the general purpose counters availbale in your board to count that time.

If the actuator doesn't have a signal feedback, the only way to have the elapsed time is by comparing the data value that your DAQ board is outputing with the values that would correspond to the set point positions, count how many points were output in between the setpoints, and then multiply that value by the update rate of the Analog Output channels.

Hope this helps.
Filipe A.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments