Transcript
CLIMAPLUS V AND FITOLOG SOFTWARE FOR TESTING CHAMBERS
ClimaPlus V ClimaPlus V is the controller for ARALAB Industry Climatic Chambers. ClimaPlus V is composed of a touch screen, two electronic relays boards and one electronic board to read compressor variables .
The electronic boards acquire all data variables (Temperature, Humidity, etc.) and send them to the touch screen. The relays and analog outputs control electrovalves, heating resistors, etc.
MAIN DISPLAY
The main screen shows the principal control variables and chamber status. For quick reference and because the Human Machine Interface is a touch screen, the buttons have rounded corners, while the boxes to show information have square corners.
Button Information box
MAIN DISPLAY BUTTONS
Buttons to change Set Values, button to change Output Events. Disabled while running a program
Button to switch on/off the internal light.
Button to mute the alarm buzzer.
Button to show running program status and access to start/stop programs.
Buttons to access status screens, setup the controller, build and change programs and set and view alarms.
STATUS SCREENS
Visualization of all process variables and control data. Visualization of all output relays status, and digital input bits status.
SETUP SCREEN
Setup chamber data and display variables. Set the access type
Set sensors control Set ventilation speed (thermal/climatic) Adjust and control parameters (only accessible if access type ADMIN)
PROGRAMS
Programs main screen. Stored programs
Temperature and humidity soak bands, to jump for next segment only if the process variable is near the set value Max power fail tolerance (Program ERR)
PROGRAMS
Program editor. Temperature and humidity set values Enable/disable soak band control Segment time (0 indicates last segment) Programmable output events. Some events have special internal functions Powerful looping, enables the construction of very complex programs
ALARMS
Alarms main screen. High, low and band alarms Comparing sensors to detect any sensor malfunction
Installed sensors
ALARMS
Alarms list. Stores the last 256 alarms.
The button HELP shows alarm description
Clear all stored alarms
ALARMS
For space reasons, some alarms need more analysis. The sensor fail only indicates the control board where the alarm is generated, analysis of the sensor values must be done to detect which sensor is failing. Fail: Sensor UC1 Failure in one or more sensors of UC1 Board Verify which sensors are out of range
Fail: Sensor UC2 Failure in one or more sensors of UC2 Board Verify which sensors are out of range
Fail: Sensor UC3 Failure in one or more sensors of UC3 Board Verify which sensors are out of range
One or more sensors of UC1 Electronic Board are failing – UC1 Sensors: Air Temperature, Air Relative Humidity, Wet Bulb Temperature and Temperature of humidity probe; One or more sensors of UC2 Electronic Board are failing – UC2 Sensors: Bath Temperature and Movable Temperature;
One or more sensors of UC3 Electronic Board are failing – UC3 Sensors: Temperature/Pressure of Compressor’s Discharge, Temperature/Pressure of Compressor’s Suction, Condensing Temperature, Condenser Cooling Water Temperature;
Fail of PT100 sensor: read value greater than 230 ºC or lower than -130 ºC; Fail of 4-20 mA sensor: read value lower than minimum (for example the pressure transducer for suction reads from -0.8 bar to 7.0 bar, so the fail is when the sensor is reading less than -1.6 bar).
FITOLOG
The FitoLog is the ARALAB acquisition software. All important data is collected and stored in files. That files could be analyzed using FitoLogView/FitoView, a software to visualize the log files, to print and to convert to text (the conversion to text enables data visualization in another software, EXCEL for example). The FitoLog has the capability to easily construct programs and send them to the controller. The requisites for the computer are very simple, computer with at least Windows 95 and at least 100 MB of free disk. The computer must have a serial RS-232 port to communicate with each chamber. If the computer doesn’t have such port, a USB to RS-232 converter must be provided, or a MOXA serial port converter or even an internal board with RS-232 ports. The communication between the computer and the chamber is made with a cable with 3 conductors, connecting pins 2-2, 3-3 and 5-5 of the DB-9 connectors.
FITOLOG INSTALLATION
The installation disk has the files setup.exe, setup.lst and fitolog.cab.
To start the installation execute setup.exe (double click).
By default the FitoLog is installed in programs folder. For operating systems released after Windows XP (Windows 7, 8) the FitoLog must be installed in the root. Press the button Change Directory and select new destination directory (C:\FitoLog for example).
FITOLOG INSTALLATION
After changing the destination folder (if necessary) click the button: to start the installation. During the installation, a warning message may alert that a file to install, is older than one currently on the computer. In this case, it is desirable to maintain the existing file (the most recent).
After the installation, in the install folder, must be present the files FitoLog.exe and FitoView.exe (or FitoLogView.exe). After the first execution of FitoLog, the folder DataLog is created. The folder DataLog is where all log files are stored.
FITOLOG START
The FitoLog has a toolbar with buttons to open several screens: •PW = Shows internal variables; •Graph = Shows chamber variables evolution if a logging is in process; •Setup = Fitolog configuration; •Log = Start/Stop loggings; •PRG = Create and send programs to the chamber; •Lock/Unlock the toolbar buttons (the default password is not set - “blank”) •EXIT = Close the FitoLog.
FITOLOG CONFIGURATION
First Run: •Press Default button to set all variable names and colors; •Select the Communications Port After selecting the communications port, the temperature, humidity, and other variables, must be visible in the FitoLog ambient. If not, then verify if the cable is ok or if the comm port is the correct one.
FITOLOG LOGGING
The FitoLog don’t start automatically any log file. The user must provide a Data Log File Name and the acquisition speed and press Start Logging button. The option Add Date to Filename permits a better identification and sorting of the log files. To avoid loss of information, the log file must be stopped and started new one frequently (each month or for each test for example). In case of a computer failure that could corrupts the log file, only some days of information are lost (if a computer is shutdown suddenly, by a power fail or similar accident, and if in that moment one write is in progress, the log file could be damaged).
FITOLOG TROUBLESHOOTING
No communication between the computer and the chamber: •Chamber is off; •Cable not connected between the computer and the chamber; •Communications port damaged; •If the communications port is external, using a USB to RS-232 converter, verify driver installation in the computers Control Panel; •If the communications port is external, using a MOXA converter or similar, verify the device installation using MOXA software; •The touch screen shows in the top left corner, one computer symbol, indicating communication between the computer and the controller. If this symbol is present and the computer don’t receive data, then, the info flows from the computer to the chamber but the computer don’t receives information of the controller – this indicates a communications port malfunction or a cable problem, some wire is broken or has a bad connection at DB-9 connectors.
FITOLOGVIEW
FitoLogView or FitoView is the application to open and analyze the log files. It’s an important tool to detect components malfunction. For example: •If we verify that humidification is lower than the desired set point, and the power humidification is permanently 100% then we have a problem with humidification system, water loss, bath water heating resistor damaged, etc.; •If we verify in the log file that a relay is on and the respective function is not done then probably the relay is damaged or in the circuit schematic any component is damaged; •Most of the times, alarms visualization is sufficient to detect the malfunction; The inputs and outputs box shows when the respective input or output is off or on or have changed during the sampling time. If the value is grayed during the last sampling time the value was off, if is colored then was on, if an x is displayed then it means the value have changed. Example: if we have 40 seconds of heat cycle time and 1 minute of sapling time and 25% of power heating then in each sampling the heat relay changes state for sure, then one x is displayed over that relay.
FITOLOGVIEW
Power Heat Power Soft Cool Power Cool Power Dry Power Humidify
