Test and Automation Control Using LabVIEW

• Developed a water heater test station for the Department of Energy. The test station can test six different water heaters at the same time. The tests continuously run 24 hours per day for 30 days. The test station used LabVIEW and National Instrument hardware.
• Trouble shooting a control software for a water heater butane test chamber using LabVIEW. The hardware and interface included PCI DAQ card, SCXI chassis, GPIB, etc.
• Developed test control software for a 20 million dollar Stirling engine R&D project using LabVIEW. In DAQ program, the hardware setting and logging data were stored in Access database. The needed data was saved into Excel data file using SQL query. In the control program, PID control algorithm was developed. The hardware and interface included PXI chassis, E serials DAQ card, SCXI chassis, GPIB, RS232, etc.
• Developed a test lab for a multimillion dollar dishwasher development project using LabVIEW. The lab was AHAM and DOE qualified and conducted four dishwasher tests at the same time. The hardware and interface included PCI DAQ card, SCXI chassis, USB GPIB, RS232, etc.
• Developed a dishwasher fast drying system test station for a potential client. The assignment requires the superior drying performance which means the china and silver wares are completely dry after the cycle. The temperature, relative humidity, power, energy, air flow rate were monitored and recorded during the test. The test station used LabVIEW and National Instrument hardware.
• Developed a residential oven prototype control and data acquisition program using LabVIEW. The complicated test plans were stored in a Excel file which would control the oven for the different tests automatically.
• Developed a RFID control system for a food packaging application. The RFID tag contains the information of type of food, weight, and recommended cooking processes. The new designed oven control system can scan the package tag, read the cooking procedure, and cook the food according to the procedure. The hardware and interface included PCI DAQ card, SCXI chassis, RS232, etc.
• Developed a product management database using Visual Basic / MS Access for an electronics manufacturer. The database can keep track senor and components in manufacturing floor. The database will be combined with their current ERP software to improve the quality and productivity.
• Led a new water heater field test data analysis assignment for California Energy Commission using Visual Basic. The assignment required to analyze 20 water heaters in five years day to day data log file and evaluate the efficiency performance. The data file size is about 2 G bytes.