Zener diode School project

[beck]

Hi everyone,

I know this is a bit of a long shot, but I’d like to give it a try. I work as a software developer, but I’ve recently returned to university to pursue a master’s degree. In one of our courses, we’re working with LabVIEW 8.6 to build a measurement system using the Agilent 34401A, Keithley 2100 series, and SDP2405.

The goal is to measure the voltage-current characteristics of a Zener diode, specifically in the third quadrant (reverse breakdown region). I need to capture small changes in voltage (ΔU) and current (ΔI) in that region to compute the dynamic resistance as rd=ΔU/ΔI

The system should be fully automated:

• Device initialization

• Measurement loop

• Graphical visualization

• Dynamic resistance calculation

Unfortunately, I missed the first lecture and now I’m completely lost (see attached screenshot). If anyone would be willing to share a working example or even just a screenshot of how to structure the project, I would deeply appreciate it.

I realize this may not be the ideal way to learn, but since my professional path is in a different field and I don’t expect to use LabVIEW long-term, I’m trying to approach this as practically as I can.

Thanks in advance — and if you can't help, I still wish you a great day!

[GerdW]

Hi beck,

---

@beck wrote:

Unfortunately, I missed the first lecture and now I’m completely lost (see attached screenshot). If anyone would be willing to share a working example or even just a screenshot of how to structure the project, I would deeply appreciate it.

---

Why don't you talk with your co-students when you missed the first lecture?

---

@beck wrote:

I realize this may not be the ideal way to learn, but since my professional path is in a different field and I don’t expect to use LabVIEW long-term, I’m trying to approach this as practically as I can.

---

There are Training resources offered at the top of the LabVIEW board: why don't you use them to learn what you missed in your first lecture?

[beck]

Hello, thank you very much for your response.

Unfortunately, none of my classmates know how to approach this either. If we manage to submit the working project, we’re exempt from taking the exam — which I’d really prefer, as I’m currently in the middle of a large project at work and don’t have much time to prepare for exams.

I won’t pretend otherwise — this request is partly out of laziness, but mostly due to the lack of time I currently have. I was simply hoping that someone might have already done something similar, as from a practical standpoint, getting it done efficiently is my priority.

Thank you for pointing me toward the training resource — that’s genuinely helpful.

And if my request came across as too bold or inappropriate, I apologize. I was just taking a shot and hoping for a bit of luck.

[GerdW]

Hi beck,

---

@beck wrote:

Unfortunately, none of my classmates know how to approach this either.

---

So all of you missed the lecture?

---

@beck wrote:

If we manage to submit the working project, we’re exempt from taking the exam

---

From a LabVIEW teacher point of view: I would let you take the exam… 😄

---

@beck wrote:

we’re working with LabVIEW 8.6 to build a measurement system using the Agilent 34401A, Keithley 2100 series, and SDP2405.

The goal is to measure the voltage-current characteristics of a Zener diode, specifically in the third quadrant (reverse breakdown region). I need to capture small changes in voltage (ΔU) and current (ΔI) in that region to compute the dynamic resistance as rd=ΔU/ΔI

The system should be fully automated:

• Device initialization

• Measurement loop

• Graphical visualization

• Dynamic resistance calculation

---

So you need an init stage and a loop to measure and display data. (It seems you don't need to log any data, don't you?)

Follow the "THINK DATAFLOW" mantra to define the order of program steps…

[beck]

I'm actually the only one who missed the lecture. As for the others, I guess they either didn’t pay enough attention or the explanation wasn’t very clear — either way, the result is the same. I should also mention that we’ve only had this class twice so far, and next week is already the third and final lecture. That’s a big reason why I’m missing so much of the background and struggling to catch up.

You're probably right that I should take the exam. But if we’re being honest, LabVIEW 8.6 is quite outdated and likely not used much anymore (at least as far as I know). Ideally, university should teach things that are relevant to your career and in my case, that’s unlikely to involve LabVIEW. I don’t think I’m a bad developer, and I hope I’ll find my way in this field even without this particular skill, so the exam feels a bit out of place for me personally.

Regarding the assignment itself, I don’t think logging the data is required. We were told to create an automated measurement system that calculates values for the third quadrant of a Zener diode, and then compute the dynamic resistance from those values. I believe the professor expects to see the final resistance value and a graph of the measurement.

Once again, thanks for pointing me in the right direction

[Yamaeda]

---

@beck wrote:

Hi everyone,

I know this is a bit of a long shot, but I’d like to give it a try. I work as a software developer, but I’ve recently returned to university to pursue a master’s degree. In one of our courses, we’re working with LabVIEW 8.6 to build a measurement system using the Agilent 34401A, Keithley 2100 series, and SDP2405.

The goal is to measure the voltage-current characteristics of a Zener diode, specifically in the third quadrant (reverse breakdown region). I need to capture small changes in voltage (ΔU) and current (ΔI) in that region to compute the dynamic resistance as rd=ΔU/ΔI

The system should be fully automated:

• Device initialization

• Measurement loop

• Graphical visualization

• Dynamic resistance calculation

Unfortunately, I missed the first lecture and now I’m completely lost (see attached screenshot). If anyone would be willing to share a working example or even just a screenshot of how to structure the project, I would deeply appreciate it.

I realize this may not be the ideal way to learn, but since my professional path is in a different field and I don’t expect to use LabVIEW long-term, I’m trying to approach this as practically as I can.

Thanks in advance — and if you can't help, I still wish you a great day!

---

The built in examples are a great help and referrence.

You can start with Help -> Find examples -> State machine.

GPIB with visa function is a good referrence on how to communicate with your instruments (Even if you have drivers they work in a similar way)