Labview controlled igniter - hardware

[Thermoflame]

I'm trying to design a labview controlled igniter for a solid fuel sample. Since I'm not too familiar with NI and Labview (or electronics in general for that matter), I'm not sure what hardware I'll need. My initial thought was a NO relay I can trigger manually from the front panel, hooked up to a nichrome wire. Since the sample will be out of view, I'm also looking for a way to automatically shut off the igniter as soon as the sample catches fire. A photoresistor or a thermocouple might work, and these would need to communicate with labview to open the relay. Any thoughts? 

[JackDunaway]

This sounds like a project for a licensed professional. Further, there may be legal dissuasions or consequences for forum members dispensing information on how to accomplish this task.

[Thermoflame]

This is part of a university level project that will be performed under controlled circumstances and supervised by experienced faculty members. We have already successfully built a manual ignition system using nichrome wire and a power supply - the next step is to make it computer controllable. Unless there are forum guidelines I'm unaware of, I don't see how nudging me in the right direction when it comes to hardware should have legal consequences.

[Dennis_Knutson]

For controlling a relay, you can use a digital line with something like the 6008. It has analog inputs but it's not a great device for temperature measurements. A single channel thermocouple device is the TC01. There are other options such as CompactDAQ. You should really contact your local NI Sales Engineer or NI directly to discuss all the options.

[Henrik_Volkers]

Make sure you have done a good risk / failure analyses 😉

Take a look at the gas igniter in US gas dryers. They work with a 120V heating element for the ignition and have a simple bimetallic flame sensor.

However they are not very fast... but are good enough to control thousands of dryers.

other question: Why you need to ignite solid fuel? No chance to use an electric heater?

If you search for a electronic flame sensor: Compare two PIR sensors (one exposed to the flame) (these sensors commonly used in motion detection sensors for the garden/entrance lights).

[AnalogKid2DigitalMan]

LabView + USB-6009 + Geeks + fireworks = Fun http://decibel.ni.com/content/community/zone/blog/2009/07/19/labview-controlled-fireworks -AK2DM

[Thermoflame]

The fuel sample is about as dangerous and large as half a sheet of paper. I suppose a heater could work, but there are pretty severe space limitations. I'll look into that possibility. Also, there are several labview controlled motors and other variables to the experiment, so I'd like to integrate the ignition system in the same labview VI. Thanks for all your suggestions. Keep it coming!

[Ben]

We used a DO line to control a relay that hit the ingniter. What was beyond the relay... who knows, I was there for the software.

Ben

[JackDunaway]

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JackDunaway wrote: This sounds like a project for a licensed professional. Further, there may be legal dissuasions or consequences for forum members dispensing information on how to accomplish this task.

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@Thermoflame wrote:

This is part of a university level project that will be performed under controlled circumstances and supervised by experienced faculty members.

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Sounds legit! (If nothing else, my post serves as a good academic lesson in information disclosure!) While we are talking about information disclosure, what hardware devices are currently available to you? Can you give specs on how much current the heating element might draw (this could affect whether you use an NI relay hardware solution or if you need an external relay solution)? Have previous design teams developed any intellectual knowledge to pass to you, or are you "blazing the trail" in terms of process control?