Industrial amplifier measures torque and angle
July 7, 2014. HBM Inc., a manufacturer of data-acquisition systems, analysis and calibration software, strain gauges, and transducers and sensors, has introduced an industrial measurement amplifier that enables users to make precise, dynamic measurements of raw and filtered torque, frequency, pulse, speed, and angle of rotation. It allows users to make accurate, position-based torque measurements that can be used directly by dynamometers and industrial-control systems.
The combination of the new PX460 hardware with HBM’s APM (Advanced Plug & Measure) technology and Transducer Electronic Data Sheet (TEDS) platform for sensor integration means that now users can simply just connect torque sensors to the PX460 amplifier and get started right away with no programming.
The PX460 amplifier is a plug-in module for the HBM PMX data acquisition and control system. It can acquire up to four channels of data from torque transducers simultaneously with an analog bandwidth of up to 6 kHz. In addition to powering the torque transducer directly, the PX460 can also acquire encoder signals of up to 2 MHz with absolute precision in rough industrial environments. The PX460 interfaces with most reaction arm-based dynamometers, providing them with filtered and smooth torque updates in real time at the desired control-loop rate of the dynamometer.
“Combining our PMX industrial amplifier with our advanced torque transducers is a powerful offering for customers, meaning they no longer have to choose between measurement performance and plug-and-play simplicity,” said HBM’s Michael Guckes, product and application manager for industrial amplifiers.
Using an on-board, position-based CASMA filter, the PX460 smooths the torque measurements so that they can be fed directly into a dynamometer or machine-control system by using real-time fieldbuses, such as Profinet, Ethercat, or Ethernet IP, or by using an analog output.
HBM’s PMX data-acquisition and control system is a web-based system that uses APM technology, as well as its TEDS platform for easy sensor integration. The PMX system automatically recognizes sensors that are connected to the system and enters the correct settings for those sensors, so that it can begin making measurements immediately. As a result, users spend less time setting up the system, the system is more stable, and there are fewer sources of measurement error.