PROFILE INSIGHT
Rotor testing set-up in front of wind tunnel
Real-time, High-Throughput
Data Acquisition
In today’s world, the Aerospace and Test industry has high economical demands for the development of its products, with the need to produce very fuel-efficient planes a primary driver. Structural, as well as engine, designs are pushed to limits not known before. These demands translate, on the one hand, to short development cycles and, on the other hand, to the request for very high measurement accuracy to verify new designs. These economic demands are changing the world of data-acquisition and Test & Measurement leading, in turn, to two main challenges. The first is measurement accuracy and the second is real-time storage and online monitoring. Dr. Fred Blönnigen, CEO of Bustec, a leading supplier of highperformance data-acquisition and test products explains
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ur products are all based on computer- needed to monitor the data online in real time and store all data independent and open-platform standards. They continuously onto a RAID system. One of these systems was provided by Bustec to AgustaWestland, a offer the highest density available in the market and have brought modularity to a new level. global leader in designing helicopters, for the optimization of rotors. Its Typical applications range from airframe, jet- system consisted of 128 channels, each sampling with up to 216KHz, plus some slower measurement and control channels. These channels engine and rocket testing to wind tunnel applications. Within this experience, let’s take two recent examples of wind tunnel consisted of Digital Inputs and Outputs (in total 96 channels) as well data-acquisition systems. What both companies needed was a solution, as some slower channels for measuring pressures and temperatures which could provide them with the possibility to acquire all channels (in total 120 channels) plus a couple of analog control channels and simultaneously with a sampling rate of up 216 kHz. In addition they 8 fast counter channels for the rpm of the rotor. 94
WIND TUNNEL INTERNATIONAL | 2009