DwyerOmega Inc CLWTC-1000TM Programmable Control System Instruction Manual
- June 8, 2024
- DwyerOmega Inc
Table of Contents
DwyerOmega Inc CLWTC-1000TM Programmable Control System
WARRANTY AGREEMENT
Limited Warranty
Dwyeromega, Inc. (hereinafter “Dwyeromega”) warrants that: (1) The
stageCONTROL-1000 Software will perform in accordance with the written
materials for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of purchase; and (2)
Any Hardware accompanying the Software will be free from defects and errors in
materials and workmanship, and covered for a period of one year from the date
of purchase if utilized under normal use and service. Any implied warranties
on the Software and the accompanying material are limited to ninety days (90)
and one year respectively.
Customer Remedies
Dwyeromega, Inc. and all its suppliers’ entire liability and the consumer’s
exclusive remedy shall be at Dwyeromega option, either for the return of the
price paid or the repair and replacement of the Software or Hardware that does
not meet the limited warranty and which is returned to Dwyeromega. The limited
warranty is deemed to be null if the failure of the Software and accompanying
material results from an accident, abuse, and/or misapplications. Any
replacement of the Software and accompanying material will be warranted for
the remainder of the original warranty period or thirty (30) days, whichever
is longer.
Dwyeromega, and its suppliers disclaim any and all other warranties whether
expressed or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of
merchant ability and fitness for a particular purpose, with regard to the
Software and accompanying written and Hardware material. This limited warranty
provides you with specific legal rights; however, you may have other rights
which would vary from state to state.
In no event shall Dwyeromega or its suppliers be liable for any damages
whatsoever arising out of the use of or inability to use this product, even if
Dwyeromega, has been advised of the possibility of such damages. However, some
states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for incidental
damages, hence this limitation may not apply.
NO LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES.
In no event shall Dwyeromega or its suppliers be liable for any damages
whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business
profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or other
pecuniary loss arising from the use of or inability to use this Dwyeromega
product, even if Dwyeromega has been advised of the possibility of such
damages.
COPYRIGHT
The CLWTC-1000TM and its operating software is patent pending and are
proprietary to Dwyeromega.
DISCLAIMER
While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, Dwyeromega cannot be held
responsible for errors or omissions in this Manual. Furthermore, it reserves
the right to revise this document and make changes without notice.
INTRODUCTION
CLWTC-1000TM is a programmable control system for automatic control of the Dwyeromega closed loop wind tunnel. The controller is connected to a PC through a USB cable for communication between the stageCONTROL-1000 software and the controller. The system is capable of controlling the air flow speed and temperature in the wind tunnel using a servo loop, measuring the instantaneous temperature and velocity of the air flow.
General Applications
Heat sink manufacturers, IC houses, board designers and other electronic
manufacturers are increasingly becoming interested in evaluating the thermal
performance of their product under different airflow conditions. The reduction
of electronic component sizes and increase in their power dissipation has
forced the electronic community to be more aware of the thermal performance of
their products. The hotter the devices, the shorter their life span and the
greater the likelihood of a malfunction. The general procedure for testing is
to put these components in the wind tunnel and evaluate their temperature at
different flow velocities and temperatures. The operator has to wait for an
average of a half-hour for the component to reach the thermal equilibrium at
each velocity. Typical characterization requires 5 data points with an average
wait time of 3 hours. The CLWTC-1000 automates the air flow delivery process,
thereby freeing the operator’s time.
Identification
CLWTC-1000 is identified by a 6 digit number (i.e. A10001) located at the back
of the unit.
HARDWARE DESCRIPTION
CLWTC-1000TM Controller
The controller is the electronic box which accepts commands from the software
through the USB communication port and reports the data back to the system. It
includes the circuitry for reading temperatures with a J thermocouple,
velocity using a thermistor and powering the heaters and the blower.
Controller is powered by 220 VAC one phase. Figure 1, shows the front view of
the CLWTC-1000 controller.
Note: Please read the manual before operating the system.
The description of the controls on the front panel are as follows:
- ON/OFF switch – Main switch to turn the system ON or OFF
- Temperature Controller – The controller for controlling the temperature inside the tunnel. The control is done inside the software. This is only for visualizing the temperature on the panel.
Figure 2 shows the rear view of the controller.
The function and description of ports and connectors on the front panel are as follows:
- Main AC Power- Main power to the system for powering the system. 220 VAC one phase-20 A
- Heater Fuse – Fuse holder containing the fuse for the heater-20 Amps
- Blower Fuse –Fuse holder containing the fuse for the blower- 5 Amps
- Electronic Fuse – Fuse holder containing the fuse for the rest of the system including temperature controller, power supply and velocity measuring circuitry -5 Amps
- Cooling Fan – Fan for cooling internal components of the system.
- Blower Power- Connects the instrument to the blower for powering the blower
- Heater Power- Connects the instrument to the heater for powering the heater
- Blower control – Control signals sent to the blower via this port
- Thermocouple – Thermocouple connection for maintaining and measuring the air flow inside the wind tunnel (J type)
- Velocity Sensor – Velocity sensor connection for controlling and measuring the air flow inside the wind tunnel .
- Thermostat—The two banana plug wires connect the controller to the wind tunnel. If the temperature inside the wind tunnel heater section gets to a high level (around 120 C), thermostat disconnects the power to the heaters for safety. Once the temperature gets to a safe level, it connects the circuit.
Velocity Monitoring
Each CLWTC-1000TM unit is supplied with a velocity sensor. These sensors are
especially calibrated for measurement in flows ranging from 0 to 1000 ft/min
(5 m/s). The sensors are used for monitoring the air velocity at any location
in the wind tunnel for controlling the blower speed and flow using a feedback
control servo loop. The calibration coefficients for each sensor are provided
for every unit.
Temperature Monitoring
Each CLWTC-1000TM unit is supplied with a J thermocouple to measure the
temperature inside the tunnel test section. The temperature feedback loop uses
this temperature data to control the wind tunnel temperature to the set point.
Whenever software is run the cycle and stops, it automatically sets the wind
tunnel temperature to 20 oC for safety. If the power goes off or user shuts
the power to the controller and turns it on later, temperature automatically
is set to -10 oC. User has to press the EZ button (RED) on the controller to
let the instrument be able to communicate with software.
SOFTWARE DESCRIPTION –stageCONTROL-1000
stage control-1000 Operating Software
stageCONTROL-1000 software is a graphical user interface that communicates
with the CLWTC-1000TM controller through PC USB. This software enables the
user to perform an automatic flow control characterization on a test specimen.
The user can automate this process by selecting a few parameters in the
stageCONTROL-1000 software. The velocity sensor(candle stick) can be attached
to any surface inside the wind tunnel to control the flow in the wind tunnel
based on that point. The flow sensor uses the thermocouple temperature reading
to calculate the velocity. It is important that the thermocouple bead placed
near the flow sensor. In most applications the flow sensor and the
thermocouple are installed close to the entrance of the test section.
Installation of stageCONTROL-1000 Operating Software
-
Download the manual, software and calibration file from Dwyeromega ftp site.
-
Install the software, by double clicking Installer\Volume\Setup.exe
-
Select directory for the software, see Figure 3.
-
After the installation, a shortcut of stageCONTROL-1000 3.6 will be created in All Program\Dwyeromega and another shortcut will be created on desktop.
Installation of USB to RS485 Driver
- Install the driver for the USB to RS485 Converter by double clicking CD\USB-to-Serial-2.08.02\Setup.exe
- Connect the PC and CLWTC-1000 controller with a USB cable, Under PC’s Device Manager\Ports (COM & LPT), a RS-485 Port will show up, see Figure 4.
Operation of stageCONTROL-1000TM
When you run stageCONTROL-1000 for the first time, a window (see Figure 5)
will pop up asking for Calibration File. This file can be found from CD sent
by Dwyeromega. You have to load this file before starting to use the
stageCONTROL-1000.
When the stage CONTROL-1000 starts, it will automatically look for the CLWTC- 1000TM Controller. If it doesn’t find the device a window will pop up, see Figure 6 saying “The device is not found”. You can also check under Device Manager\Ports (COM & LPT) to see if a RS-485 Port is present over there. You can either choose Retry or Continue to proceed.
The following procedures should be taken by the operator prior to start the wind tunnel.
- Specify the desired air velocity ranges for the experiment to be performed.
- Specify the desired air temperature, the air temperature can’t be larger than 85ºC.
- Select the desired number of data points. This value includes the two data points at the starting and ending velocities. When stageCONTROL-1000 is executed, it will start the wind tunnel at starting velocity and desired temperature and will stay there until the dwell time is reached. The software then increases the air velocity by the amount of velocity interval calculated from the following equation Velocity interval = (V_Start – V_End)/(Desired number of data points –1)
- This process is repeated for subsequent velocities until the data for end velocity has been obtained.
- Set the dwell time. This is the amount of time controller will keep the air flow velocity at the set point.
Note : When the user stops the software, if the temperature inside the tunnel is greater than 50ºC, a message will pop asking the user to decrease manually the set point temperature below 50 oC from the controller front side by using the down arrow key. This is basically a safety feature to make sure the tunnel’s temperature is not high if it is left unattended. Or you can click on skip to stop the software.
Description of stageCONTROL-1000 User Interface The interface of stageCONTROL-1000 is illustrated in Figure 7.
The user interface elements (number in the boxes) are explained as follows:
- Air Velocity Chart: This chart shows the transient value and history of air velocity.
- Air Velocity Digital Display: This shows current air velocity value.
- Air Temperature Digital Display: This shows current air temperature value.
- Air Temperature Chart: This chart shows the transient value and history of air temperature.
- Velocity Sensor Serial #: Input the velocity sensor serial #, you can find the number on sensor connector.
- Load New Calibration File: Click to load new calibration file for velocity sensor.
- COM Port: Choose the port for data communication. The value chosen will determine which COM port will be active for serial data communication. These are virtual COM ports that will show after installing the driver for USB to RS485 conversion
- Temperature Unit: Select temperature unit used in test.
- Velocity Unit: Select velocity unit used in test.
- Save Data: Check mark the box to save temperature and velocity data.
- File Path: Enter a file path for test data.
- Air velocity _Start: Set the starting velocity.
- Air velocity _End: Set the ending velocity.
- Air Temperature: Set the desired air temperature, the setting value must be in the range T_ambient ≤ T_air ≤ 85°C.
- Dwell time. This is the amount of time, in minutes, spent between each velocity interval.
- Number of Test Points: Enter the desired number of data points. For example, if you enter 6, the software will perform the experiment for six different velocities, i.e. at the minimum and maximum velocities and four velocities in between at equal velocity intervals.
- Start/Stop: When Start is pressed, stageCONTROL-1000 turns on the blower and the heater, and the test starts. When Stop is pressed, stageCONTROL-1000 turns off the blower and the heater and terminates test.
- Air Velocity: Air velocity indicator.
- Target Velocity: This shows the target velocity.
- Sensor Reading: This shows the output of velocity sensor. This value is for debug purpose only.
- Air Temperature: Air temperature indicator.
- Target Temperature: This shows the target temperature.
- Elapsed Time: This shows the elapsed time in minutes at current test point.
Note : If the Velocity Sensor Serial # is incorrect, a warning window will pop out, see Figure 8. Please select “Return” and input correct serial number.