Once the system has been turned on and hooked up to the computer it can be set up for testing. If instacal is not installed on the computer, acquire the Measurement and Computing CD that comes with the DAQ’s and install instacal. Once instacal is installed, open the program and note what port each element is dedicated to.

Figure 1: Instacal Screen, Board 1 DAQ Board 2 Relay

It is also possible to test the connection and communication of the hardware by double-clicking on the desired device and selecting “flash LED.” If the LED on the board or DAQ does not respond the system may not be hooked up correctly, check all connections and continue.

Figure 2: LED Flash test for DAQ Note: No. of Channels should be set to 8 Single Ended as shown above for proper

system operation

Figure 3: LED Flash test for relay board

Now that the system is fully configured, leave instacal open and open the LabView file POC12_Controls12.VI. The LabView front panel pictured below should open.

Figure 4: LabView front panel

From the dropdown box select the desired mode of control for the system. There are three modes of control for the system; joystick where the desired position is controlled by a potentiometer external to the system; test sequence where the system actuates based on a pre-determined test sequence; and virtual joystick where a slider on the LabView front panel is used to control the actuation of the system.

Figure 5: Joystick operating mode

Figure 6: Joystick case in block diagram

Figure 7: Desired value operating mode

Figure 8: Desired Value case in block diagram

Figure 9: Virtual Joystick operating mode

Figure 10: Virtual Joystick case in block diagram

The fourth operating mode in the dropdown box is Vent All, which is used to open all the valves to release the air from the system.

Figure 11: Vent all operating mode

Figure 12: Vent all case in block diagramView the block diagram by selecting WindowView Block Diagram; the ports of the boards and channels of the relays need to be set in the block diagram for each case before the system will run properly. Note: If using the control box provided by P10029 do not change the channels of the relays, see troubleshooting section below if you are having issues running the system.

Before you run the test sequence input the pressure, air muscle length and trial number on the LabView front panel, as well as the channel of the potentiometers. To run the test sequence select “Test Sequence” from the dropdown box and press the run arrow at the top of the LabView front panel. The system will go to 0V for 5s then actuate to 10V or as close as it can get for 5s and then finally back to 0v for another 5s before bringing up a prompt to save the file. The system is set up to export time, desired position and actual position to an excel file once the test sequence has been completed. In addition in the first row of the excel file the system will list the pressure, air muscle length and trial number for the test that was just performed. When the system runs the

program notice the waveform chart on the front panel, it shows the voltage of the potentiometer vs time. To change the length of actuation of the potentiometers fix a hose clamp and zip tie at the desired length as shown in the picture below.

Figure 13: Shortened air musclesBecause the system is not equipped with NI DAQ’s there are occasionally

communication issues between the system and the computer, the best course of action to take initially if the system fails to actuate is to close LabView and power cycle the system. If this action is unsuccessful at resolving the actuation issues of the system examine the relay board and check which relays are turned on, remember that the numbering of the relays in LabView will be one less than the numbering on the relay board. If the air muscles actuate but both act in the same direction or won’t achieve position check the front panel and make sure the channels are set correctly for the potentiometers they should be set as in the screenshot below.

Figure 14: Correct Channel settings(Green Box)