LabVIEW-Based Calibration and Measurement System for Strain-Gauge Based Force Measurement Sensors

摘要

National WindTunnel Facility (NWTF), IIT Kanpur has a subsonic closed circuit wind tunnel with unique and internationally recognized capabilities to evaluate aerodynamic performance of flight and road vehicles. Scaled models for wind tunnel study are instrumented with single axis and multi-axis strain-gauge based force sensors to measure force experienced by them due to wind flow. Accuracy of the force measurement on the test models is directly affected by whether the strain-gauge sensors used for the tests are calibrated accurately and in time. The output of these sensors is a very low-level voltage signal and is susceptible to unwanted noise from other electrical devices and electro-magnetic fields. To make quality measurement using a strain gauge sensor is not a straight forward task and needs a high-performance calibration and measurement system. This paper presents the implementation details of a LabVIEW-based high-performance multi-channel strain-gauge based force sensors calibration and measurement system developed at National WindTunnel Facility (NWTF), Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. The developed system has the capability to calibrate and measure using up to 32 numbers of strain-gauge based force sensors.