I have used NI LabVIEW to build test stations and to interface various sensors (temperature, load cells, current, hall effect, accelerometers) to test prototype products. A few such projects are highlighted below.

A typical project will consist of defining a set of sensors to be used to collect data from the device under test. These sensors will be conditioned or amplified with electronic circuitry and input into a computer through a USB data acquisition device. Here is one such unit I have constructed, consisting of two accelerometers mounted in a head and a separate microphone. The signals from these devices are amplified in the gray box and sent to a USB device and then into a computer.

LabVIEW is then used to build a virtual tester on the computer, collecting the sampled data from the USB device and analyzing it for the purpose of verifying whether the tested unit meets a specific set of criteria.

The front panel allows an operator to select a product and the appropriate work shift so that yield data can be tracked. The panel displays the progress of the test and then the pass/fail status when the test is complete. Since sound and vibration are being used in this test, the frequency spectrum of each of the sensors is displayed so that operators and engineers can identify unusual circumstances when they occur.

The daily yield is continuously updated with each run of the tester, and the detail results are visible to the operators and management on the Statistics Screen. The major failure categories are tabulated so that trends can be identified and manufacturing and/or parts issues can be addressed real-time.

Technical staff can review individual sensor data on additional screens to help in diagnosing failing units and also to fine-tune the pass/failure criteria. This data is used to match failing or returned units with specific frequency signatures so that the fail parameters of the tester can be updated and rework instructions can be generated for repairs.

Virtual instruments can also be created to streamline data analysis. Below is a graphing instrument that takes as its input data collected from a tester’s sensors and allows the user to zoom in/out on the graph and position cursers to read and compare values from the various sensors that are plotted.

Here is a signal analyzer that was created in LabVIEW to verify the signal produced by a frequency generator that was used to calibrate a microphones’ response.