Delta gains productivity with new data logger

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March 2001 Data Acquisition & Telemetry

Delta Motor Corporation, the manufacturer, assembler and importer of all Opel, Isuzu and Suzuki vehicles into South Africa, has successfully been using the Fluke Hydra 2635 Data Bucket in order to increase the productivity of their product engineering and development department.

"Test data is immediately available," says Rudi Marais, Senior Reliability Engineer at Delta. "Previously we used a data acquisition system which printed the test data on a ream of paper. Before the engineer could analyse the test data and come to any meaningful conclusion, it had to be entered into a PC. This procedure was extremely time-consuming and, because the results were not immediately available with the previous type of data acquisition system, some tests had to be repeated - often at test sites far away from the company's physical location.

"Now the analysis of test data is a pleasure," says Marais. "Engineers can concentrate on the test results and the development of the components, rather than the entering of test data into a PC. This means that conclusions can be reached quicker with less impact on the development program and start of production for new model ranges. Furthermore, graphs in realtime make life a lot easier for the tester - it is easier to observe a graph than having to look at numbers. The Fluke Data logger also provides for the presetting of Hi and Low alarm limits, which prevents damage to the vehicle being tested."

Delta's product development and engineering department has already implemented the use of two Fluke Hydra 2635 data buckets during the design & validation stages of recent new model programs. The department, which is responsible for all prototype vehicle building as well as all validation testing of new and current production level motor vehicles, uses the Hydra 2635 on test vehicles equipped with the necessary sensors for recording test data such as temperatures, voltages, pressures and various other factors.

According to Marais more tests are completed in a shorter span of time and critical tests can be repeated if the results are not acceptable. "Another advantage of the Hydra 2635 is that we are able to measure values such as frequencies and use equipment such as pressure transducers, which we were unable to do previously," he says.

The Data Bucket is good for monitoring in mobile or remote applications like process plants, vehicles, or power substations, to verify that site equipment is set up and performing properly. All data can also be retrieved via modem, or you can request the minimum, maximum, or last reading from each channel. "We have already placed an order for another seven Hydra 2635 Data Buckets," concludes Marais.

Spescom MeasureGraph

011) 266 1572

[email protected]

www.spescom.com

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Data Acquisition & Telemetry

Delta gains productivity with new data logger

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