Using a NI PCI-6035E for instrument control and acquisition

[RiveTech]

Hey everyone.  I have a NI PCI-6035E Multifunction DAQ, but I have no experience yet with this kind of hardware.  I am building a device that for the most part has 4 servo valves, some mass flow controllers, and possibly some heat controllers, but haven't decided on that yet.  I would like to be able to control everything in LabView and I was wondering if this DAQ would work for this.  If not, what would you suggest for it?  I have made similar instruments in the past, but with REALLY old equipment with a controller and separate ADCs and DACs, but I want something definitely smaller and more self-contained.  Thanks for your help.

-Jon

[Kevin_F]

Hey Jon,

From my experience most servo values take a digital or analog input signal which your PCI-6035E will be able to output.  However the card only has two analog outputs so either two of the valves would need to be controlled with the same output or you would need a second card.  If the valves use a digital signal for control then this should not be a problem as you have 8 digital outputs on that particular card.  The mass flow controllers and heat controllers are generally the same story as the servo valves so it is really just a matter of how many you are using compared to how many outputs your board has.  You can refer to these two documents for information on connecting the digital and analog outputs of your DAQ card: http://www.ni.com/gettingstarted/setuphardware/dataacquisition/analogoutput.htm and  http://www.ni.com/gettingstarted/setuphardware/dataacquisition/digitaloutput.htm.  You can also find good programming examples for Digital and Analog output using LabVIEW in the shipping examples.  You can find these by navigating to Help->Find Examples in LabVIEW and then in the Example Finder navigating to Hardware Input and Output->Daqmx.  Please post back if you have any additional questions.