Has anyone made a non-contact tachometer?

[lockesmith]

Hello, I am trying to make a balancing system that will use a tachometer and accelerometer to determine how much weight to add to a rotor and where to add it in or to balance it.  Has anyone made a non-contact device that can determine rpms?

[preston_johnson]

pcb, www.pcb.com, makes a laser tachometer that uses reflective tape.  So does banner and a few others.  You can also use a eddy current displacement probe over a key or keyway in the shaft. 

Are you using LabVIEW for the balancing code?  Here is some LabVIEW code that may help:  http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/4381 

[lockesmith]

I tried to download the zip file of the code but it said the link was unavailable.  I am looking to use the compaqDAQmx to gather the data from the accelerometer and tachometer.  So if you have any example code that could shed light on this i would really appreciate any help.

[preston_johnson]

I was able to download the code.  I have attached it here.

[lockesmith]

Can i run that laser tach from a 9215 AI module

[preston_johnson · Accepted solution]

The laser tach from PCB requires an ICP power supply.  http://www.modalshop.com/test_tmproducts.asp?ID=19  You would need one of these to work with the 9215 module. 

[lockesmith]

I would like to balance in a single plane and only use an accelerometer and tachometer to gather data.  I am using a cDAQ-9172 with a NI 9233.  Could anyone give me any advice on how to make this code work for my exact application.

[Doug_L._Bear]

First, you will need to change the DAQmx Base Functions to regular DAQmx VI's so that it will work with the 9233.  You will also need to remove all of the PDA information and VI's so that it will run on a standard computer.  Depending on how much experience you have with LabVIEW it may be easier to start with a different VI.  From what you are describing the Order Analysis Toolkit would be quite helpful and has some great examples to get you going in the right direction.  National Instruments also has a large number of alliance partners who develop code for a customer's specific problem.  More information about alliance partners can be found at here.