I’m trying to decide if Labview is the right system for my project and I would appreciate any input from the community.
The project is an automated power supply DVT program, and it’s a fairly large one. The UUT can have up to 20 outputs, each one with different voltage output and loading requirements. In addition to whole unit tests I’ll also need to perform 5 tests on each output. Those tests would be the standards: regulation, ripple, stepload, and turn-on/off overshoot. I plan to communicate with my various instruments over GPIB.
After poking around with the Labview evaluation program for a week or so I have no doubt that LV can perform all the tests I require. My concern is how big the VI will have to be to accomplish this, and how to structure the program. The whole-unit tests like inrush current and efficiency aren’t a problem, but 20 outputs x 5 tests each = 100 tests and each has to be done at three different input voltages and three different temperatures. Finally, the whole thing has to be fire-and-forget. That is: start the test and go home.
I believe that once I have the basic test written I can simply loop the whole thing after I change the input voltage and temperature parameters. But 100 tests are a lot of subVIs! The other option might be to use one set of 5 subVIs and loop that 20 times while changing test parameters from an array preloaded with the various ‘scope and load settings as required by the particular output under test.
So I’m wondering if LV is up to this task, and if so, does anyone have any suggestion/comments on the program structure.
Thanks for any help.