Hardware/HMI to display a waveform?

Anyone familiar with displaying waveforms rather than trends? I'm looking for either dedicated hardware that can be send data to display a wave form, or an HMI that can display a waveform. Due to the environment it must be something like a panelview, redlion, proface..etc, can't be an industrial PC running software.

Having trouble finding something that might fit the bill, any recommendations are welcome.

Thanks!

By "waveform" do you mean something captured quickly?
How fast is your sampling rate?

Or, are you talking about something like an FFT in the frequency domain?
Traditionally, HMI communications are pretty slow compared to these types of signals.

If this is you, you will likely have to take measurements and buffer information in the controller and then display it on an HMI or industrial monitor.

If the signals are very fast you might need to use something like a National Instruments cRio platform.

Can you post more info about the frequency and type of signals you expect to be dealing with?

Frequency isn't important, the data to be displayed will be buffered.

I need to find a hardware to display a waveform shape. This is to display a load on a cylinder relative to position. As a result the data captured is not really time-series data, it's data that alightn with the extension and retraction of a cylinder. The resultant data can plotted, and will form a shape. As the cylinder extends, the position (x axis) increases from Xmin to Xmax, the load (y axis) will increase toYmin to YMax. At Xmax and Ymax this is only 50% of the cycle. As the cylinder retracts, the data collected will trend back to Xmin and Ymin.

Typical trend charts on HMIs are basic and are generally slated for for time-series data. As a result the trend objects don't respond well to data which goes 'backwards in time' (as with a cylinder retracting to Xmin).

The shape of of the resultant waveform is a very good indication of how efficient the cylinder is operating. Similar to how a shape of a radar chart can indicate operational relationships of multiple analog feedback devices. However in my application there are only 2 feedback devices, so a radar chart doesn't fit the bill either.

The RSTrendX activeX component of PanelView Plus HMIs is certainly capable of doing X-Y plots.

One input drives the X-axis, and the other drives the Y-axis. It is usual in these circumstances to turn off the pen driving one of the axes. I have successfully drawn circles, etc., using X-Y plots.

Hello,

PeakHMI X/Y graphic chart element can produce shapes. It plots the data points against the ranges of the axis.

Mark- said:

Hello,

PeakHMI X/Y graphic chart element can produce shapes. It plots the data points against the ranges of the axis.

Click to expand...

Paully's5.0 said:

Due to the environment it must be something like a panelview, redlion, proface..etc, can't be an industrial PC running software.

Click to expand...

..

Hey Paul,

If I may ask, what kind of environment are we talking? I mean, there are some pretty rugged PC's out there. I just don't know how esoteric or what price point I have to see before giving up on the idea.

Regards,
Jordan

Red Lion (Crimson 3.0) offers the "scatter graph" which would allow the display of data from an array holding the points. It is an x/y type of plot and you can show or hide a line to connect the dots. I have used it to display data from a load cell captured by a PLC at a much faster rate than what I could do over a communication channel.

JordanCClark said:

Hey Paul,

If I may ask, what kind of environment are we talking? I mean, there are some pretty rugged PC's out there. I just don't know how esoteric or what price point I have to see before giving up on the idea.

Regards,
Jordan

Click to expand...

It's essentially going on oem type equipment, and hopefully a number of them will get shipped out to just about anywhere. This equipment operates outdoors, so with the volume and the unknown variables of the each environment, industrial PCs are overkill and not as easy to repair out in the field if needed.

Appreciate the suggestions!

iX Developer could maybe be an option:
http://www.beijerelectronics.com/we...ments/FD0DBE655D4EB767C1257D65003D76C2#Charts

Demo version can be downloaded from:
http://www.beijerelectronics.com/we...ng=COM&DocID=95C831E347D01AEBC12579DE005D3548

//Supporter

We have had good success with this on high rise construction equipment. Outdoors, lots of cement dust, grease, rough service.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5eaBzdLXPBI

<disclaimer - I work for a company that distributes this product >