Automotive Industry

Application of PC control technology in test bench system

Overview
Compared with various test and measurement control systems on the market, including NI, BECKHOFF, B&R, domestic and industry-specific (such as automobile engine bench testing, etc.) control systems, the advantages of BECKHOFF products based on PC control technology are very The huge, flexible and open platform allows system integrators to better grasp the costs and advantages of control systems, thereby developing more efficient test systems. Today, as the requirements for human-computer interaction are getting higher and higher, BECKHOFF's TwinCAT HMI follows the trend and develops a refreshing interface based on the concepts of H5 and CSS.
Using TwinCAT as a software platform for test benches offers many benefits. Thanks to its outstanding flexibility, it can be easily adapted to all requirements for existing or dedicated functions. From data collection to analysis, the Beckhoff system has a complete set of measurement chains. All signals collected by the underlying sensors can be found in dedicated measurement modules according to type. Data analysis and control are performed through the connection between the EtherCAT bus and the controller loaded with TwinCAT software. This effectively improves machine efficiency. At the same time, the measurement software can be deployed on the local controller or in the cloud, and equipment operation data can be monitored and queried anytime and anywhere.

In the field of measurement and control, NI is a professional equipment provider in the industry, and Labview has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. In some applications, Labview has become the software of choice for the host computer, while the control bus and IO system prefer to use the Beckhoff system. In response to this situation, Beckhoff will develop function blocks that seamlessly interface with Labview.
The TE3700 tool can directly integrate Beckhoff EtherCAT IO into the NI system, so that you can continue to use the familiar NI system. In addition, if you want to apply the Beckhoff control system but want to use Labview on the host computer, you only need to install the TF3710 function block in the Beckhoff control system.

Measurement and control application cases in the automotive industry
In order to meet the high quality standards of the automotive industry, customers subject their equipment to extremely stringent testing before starting series production. Using PC- and EtherCAT-based control and measurement technology from Germany's Beckhoff can bring obvious advantages to customers.
A manufacturer of automobile heating systems needs to conduct factory testing of the heating system. Automotive heating system testing includes environmental impact assessment, durability testing and cold start testing, as well as various other tests. For example, during durability and stress testing, the parking heater is repeatedly switched on and off under conditions that simulate actual applications to simulate loading and behavior over the entire useful life cycle. In the salt spray/humidity/rain test, the heater is continuously sprayed with a salt solution over a period of several days to test its anti-corrosion properties. In addition, a vibration test rig will be used to simulate actual road conditions for impact resistance testing. Equipment must work with various types of fuels as well as additives to be tested accordingly. And not only do each device need to be tested individually, but multiple devices of the same model are tested together.

The advantage of the Beckhoff control system is integration. It integrates automation, measurement and safety technology into one system. The data of the measurement sensors are collected and recorded through Beckhoff's measurement module. In addition to digital IO, Beckhoff's analog quantity There is also a wide range of measuring modules for recording high-precision measured values and transmitting these values to the respective controller. For multi-purpose measurement tasks, the test bench can also be equipped with an EL3681 digital multimeter module. These measurement channels are not bound to the sensors, further improving the flexibility of the system.