Torque Measurement using Windows Software
Windmill software lets you continually log data from Torque Meters, gauges, wrenches and other instruments. All data is time-stamped and can be imported into Excel. For torque meters with an RS232 port:
- Run the Windmill ComDebug program and enter your torque meter's communication settings. You can also log data with ComDebug.
- Run the Windmill DDE Panel, Logger or Chart program to save or display data.
Before running the software connect your torque equipment to the PC's RS232 serial port using an appropriate cable. If your PC does not have a serial port use a USB-Serial converter.
Run the Windmill ComDebug program
- Enter the communication settings used by your torque meter, eg:
- Baud: 4800
- Data Bits: 8
- Parity: None
- Flow control: None
Check your manual for your settings.
- Enter your torque meter's timing settings. These should work for most torque meters:
- Read: Directly
- Timeout: 5000 mS
- Data Persistance: 5000 mS
- Instrument Idle or Wait Time: 0
- You now need to define how to extract data. To do this edit a ComDebug Message. Your settings here depend upon how you have configured your torque meter. Check your meter's Manual. Some torque meters, for example, send a 16 character data stream. The
7th character gives the polarity
and the next 8 give the data values
- In the Message Screen click Send
- You should see a reply. Click the Parse button and enter instructions on extracting the data from the message. More details on parsing messages are here.
-
In the Message Screen click Run to check that everything is working.
- Save the settings you've entered as an .IMD file and click OK in the main window.
Data Logging Options
For simple logging from one instrument you can use the free ComDebug program. In the Message Edit screen click Run.
Trouble-Shooting
If you are getting accurate data readings, but much slower than expected, change your sampling rate. With serial communications Windmill can make 5 readings per second per channel. So it can record one measurement every 0.2 seconds. If you have the sampling interval set much smaller than this, then Windmill may slow down considerably and only make a couple of readings per minute.
For more trouble-shooting tips see our technical support page.
