ITM Blog Posts

The Blog Post category contains blog posts associated with ITM’s testing services, LabVIEW programming, Test & Measurement Hardware, Boiler Monitoring Systems, and iTestSystem applications.

Wireless Strain Based Silo Monitoring

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Silo Level Monitoring Video

Keeping up with more than a million pounds of plastic pellets a year would seem a near impossible task.

But at ITM, we’ve developed a wireless strain based monitoring solution to help manufacturers — particularly those in the injection mold business — easily alter existing storage silos to keep a more accurate eye on the levels of dry goods contained in them.

Industry partners report the difficulty of keeping exact measurements of the amount of ever-changing raw materials they have stored in on-site silos. With our solution, however, we’ve removed the guesswork with a system that won’t require manufacturers to go through costly structural modifications.

As we demonstrate in this video, we are able to build a measurement system that will report silo levels by using strain gauge sensors, a wireless signal transmitter and a remote signal receiver. Notice in the lab test, as the valve is opened and the water begins to drain, the signals on the user interface respond accordingly as the values decrease. Though a seemingly simple test, I’m convinced the results hold important real-world implications.

Similarly, we think manufacturers will value being able to monitor multiple silos from a single customized interface and ultimately maintain efficiencies and keep their production lines humming.

— ITM President Tim Carlier

ITM Presents on Rugged Data Acquisition at NI Week

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RAC NI Week

One of the highlights of our summer at ITM is our trek to NI Week, the annual conference in Austin, Texas, presented by National Instruments where thousands of the world’s brightest minds in engineering and science come together to learn about the latest technology in our field.

For the last couple of years, we’ve had the privilege to not just attend but also to present during the interactive technical sessions. This year’s co-presentation on developing a Rugged Data Acquisition solution gave me the chance to share how ITM’s line of Rugged Data Acquisition (RAC) Systems allow us (and our customers) to gather data under even the harshest testing conditions.

Our portable RAC Systems include our LabVIEW-based iTestSystem software and can withstand environmental elements, shock and vibration in the field. Among the many features — whether you need to measure strain, acceleration, voltage, speed or temperature — these units can store terabytes of data that is all synched.

I love talking up the products that come out of our lab at ITM, but getting to share more about our Rugged DAQ solutions in a forum like NI Week takes it to the next level. I’m already looking forward to returning to Austin in 2015.

— ITM President Tim Carlier

ITM Engineers Earn Pinnacle LabVIEW Certification

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LabVIEW Certification Pyramid

While I’m not surprised at their achievement, I’m excited to announce that two engineers from our team at Integrated Test & Measurement have reached the highest LabVIEW Certification Level from NI.

Mark Yeager, an engineer and lead programmer, along with Chase Petzinger, a programmer and computer engineer, have reached Certified LabVIEW Architect (CLA) status.

With only a half dozen CLAs throughout all of Ohio, ITM now employs a third of the engineers in the state who have mastered NI’s rigorous CLA exam.

A Certified Architect is the highest level of certification from NI and signifies mastery in architecting and project managing LabVIEW applications as well as the ability to lead complex projects from conception through completion.

A National Instruments Gold Alliance Partner, ITM’s LabVIEW Development Team has provided professional engineering applications to our customers since 2001. We specialize in developing both windows-based and real-time applications that transform mechanical data into useful engineering data by monitoring such things as vibration, strain, temperature and load.

These impressive certifications reinforce ITM’s expertise in the field of software development.

For LabVIEW programming assistance contact Mark Yeager via email: mark.yeager@itestsystem.com or phone: (844) 837-8797 x 701.

iTestSystem Overview

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The iTestSystem (iTS) 2011 Platform enables the user to organize, acquire and view important engineering data using National Instruments (NI) C-Series hardware.  This video shows cDAQ hardware configuration, sensor configuration, data acquisition, data logging, and real-time data viewing.  It also shows the roving hammer impact test DAQ application.

Download iTestSystem!

ATV Data Acquisition

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Check out this cool ATV operation testing video featuring ITM’s iTestSystem Software and NI StandAlone cDAQ-9133 CompactDAQ Data Acquisition Hardware.  Acceleration and strain gauge sensors were installed on the ATV chassis and shift lever to characterize the forces acting on the vehicle while in operation.  iTestSystem was installed on the standalone chassis to simplify data logging and data management, and graphically view real time data over a wireless network.

For more information about this data logging application, our testing services or the iTestSystem software, contact Ryan Welker at ryan.welker@itestsystem.com or (844) 837-8797.