Thermocouple DAQ Software and I/O

I've been informed our lab wants to do temporary temperature measurement on several different vessels. They have 10 Thermocouples, and, of course, went out and already purchased a device that can measure the individual TC's, but has no data collection or storage.

I was wondering if anyone out there has any suggestions as to something that can continuously measure 10 TC's, and store the data for several days. I've thought of throwing a spare rack together and just putting it on a cart, but I'm afraid of what would happen to this thing rolling around out in the plant.

Collection speed doesn't need to be that great, maybe 1 minute intervals.

We have A-B Control Logix processors, so something that I could pull in via ethernet would be good. Either that, or a simple I/O card and software I could put on a laptop would work as well.

Thanks

A Google search for "thermocouple data logger" turned up a lot of 8-channel USB guys. I didn't see any with ethernet capability.

http://www.picotech.com/thermocouple.html

Never used them though.

Good stuff here:
http://www.dataq.com/

Check www.measurementcomputing.com. They have an inexpensive USB thermocouple interface which comes with data colletcion software.

Yokogawa DAQStation would work. Has several different communications and or storage solutions.

Here's is what I would do. Find your local Banner Engineering Rep and inquire about their new Thermocouple wireless nodes. Depending on your distances and how close your thermocouples are to each other, you might need only 4 nodes and one gateway. Then take the thermocouple values out of the wireless network into a RedLion DataStation Plus product. This product can log all of the analog values for you and feed the data up via a webpage. This solution would be super easy to implement and even easier on your wiring budget. Oh, and since the system is wireless, your cart could stay put where you are. Plus, when you are done with this test you can use these new toys elsewhere in your plant for other temporary projects.

Regards,
Joe_WaZoo

P.S. Go Huskers!!! I grew up in South Omaha.

IF all you want to do is measure the temperature of 10 different points
AND record the data
AND transfer to a computer program to make graphs and do calcs

I suggest you take a look at John Fluke. I have two of their Hydra data buckets and have used them for thermocouples AND other sensors. Essentially -- put a voltage into it and it will record at any interval you want (milliseconds to hours).
They have 21 channels any of which can be configured for various types of thermocouple (J K etc etc).
Data can be "pulled out" using a cable and Fluke software. It is in a file compatible with Excel and easily converted by Excel.
This unit will easily handle your ten points and I estimate can measure them and record the average reading every minute for up to a week (maybe more -- it is only an estimate based on what I have been able to do).
They are kinda pricey (I bought used demo units at around $3,000).

Dan