ASG Measurement & Control Group

Measurement & Control Group

Customised Laboratory Instrumentation, Data Acquisition Systems, Design Capabilities

Data Acquisition of Experimental Data in a Hazards Testing Laboratory

10 Gram Tube Test Apparatus
The 10 Gram Tube data logging equipment, when used in conjunction with the

Protected Laboratory Controller / Programmer and the Pressure Monitor Trip, offers a complete system for 10 Gram Tube screening tests. A full system would also include a 2 Kilowatt Thermal Stability Oven, oven hood, framework with counter weights and Carius Tubes.

The hardware is configured such that a Carius Tube containing a sample substance is suspended inside a vertical oven chamber (Thermal Stability Oven). The Carius Tube is connected to a pressure transducer via an oil filled tube such that the transducer is protected from the heat produced from the oven. The sample temperature is monitored via a thermocouple located at the base of the Carius Tube. The oven temperature control, monitoring and trip thermocouples are located on the surface of the ovens inner wall. In operation the whole apparatus is shielded from exploding Carius Tubes by a circular cowling, which can be raised or lowered via counterbalanced weights.

Associated Instrumentation:

• Temperature Control
  The rate of oven temperature rise is programmable and controlled by the M&C Laboratory Protected Controller. Over temperature trip facilities are an integral feature of the controller.
  
• Pressure Monitoring
  As the oven temperature rises, the pressure within the Carius tube may start to increase, this is monitored by the Pressure Trip Monitor Unit, via a transducer. An analogue output voltage proportional to the measured pressure is made available for logging purposes. (Refer to section 4.0 for further information).
  
• Data Acquisition
  The system comprises of a DataScan acquisition module supporting eight thermocouple inputs, two of which are used for sample and oven temperature logging in this particular application. The DataScan module also supports up to 8 analogue inputs, one of these is used to log the pressure signal made available at the Pressure Monitor Unit. All data collected by the DataScan Module is transferred between the acquisition module and PC via a RS232 link.

The DataScan module is supported by Orchestrator software. Orchestrator software is used to configure and calibrate individual DataScan channels and also provides trending software.