[Dsg-rtpc] [New Comment] MFC104 seems flaky

[Sebastian Kuhn]

Dear Brian,

thank you so much for setting this up for us. I tested the interface and it works exactly as advertised. However, I do have one question: How does this new interface interact (or conflict!) with the standard “GUI.vi” we use to control both the target and the RTPC detector gas? At the least, the readback FROM the MFC104 in the “GUI.vi” does not seem to be affected by whatever I enter in “Target MFC.vi” and vice versa. For instance, if I enter “200.0” for the MFC104 “Setpoint” field, the “Setpoint” value in TargetMFC.vi. does not change (it stays at zero) *). Vice versa, the “Valve %” Readback for MFC104 in “GUI.vi” shows “100%”, no matter if I chose “Closed”, “Open” or “Normal” in the “Override” field on TargetMFC.vi. Are there specific rules about running the 2 interfaces simultaneously (or should that never be done in the first place)?

Please advise! Thanks and have a good evening - Sebastian

*) Curiously, sometimes when I stop and restart the GUI.vi, the “Setpoint” number on TargetMFC.vi fluctuates briefly (a few seconds) to 200, but goes back to zero immediately.

On Mar 17, 2020, at 4:41 PM, Brian Eng <beng at jlab.org<mailto:beng at jlab.org>> wrote:

Ok, first go at this remotely ...

Someone should test this locally on the computer and report back. I didn't exercise the valve any as I wasn't sure what the state of the system was in.

There should now be a file called 'Target MFC' (not sure if extensions are hidden or not) in the same folder where the GUI is.

If you double click on it to launch it you should get a screen like the following:
<running.PNG>

This means it's running, if somehow it isn't it will look like the screenshot below (notice the extra bar at the top with the run button[arrow]) as well as the icon text, if so click on the run button
<not running.PNG>

Now that we're sure it is running click on the 'Initalize MB' button which should connect to the MFC and start updating the values, i.e. it will look like the screenshot below
<connected.PNG>

Namely the information box at the top is now populated and all the information on the right side is as well. Note that the information box and the indicators next to it is only populated once when first connecting while the plot and indicators next to it should always be updating (some more obvious than others).

The 'Override' selection drop down has three choices: Normal, Open, and Closed. Normal means the valve position is based on what the set point is, the other 2 are self-explanatory.
<override.PNG>

If you want to update the information box (i.e. to see what the current gas is or get a current temperature reading) you'll need to click on the 'Close MB' button twice (once to stop plotting and another to close the connection) then 'Initialize MB'

When you're finished with the program click the 'Stop' button and close the program.

P.S. There is also an update time in ms in the bottom left, you can change this to suit your needs (I don't think I'd go below 50ms). It was hard to tell remotely if this value was okay or not, but the higher/slower the better as far not causing performance issues.
________________________________________
From: Sebastian Kuhn <kuhn at jlab.org<mailto:kuhn at jlab.org>>
Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2020 11:41 AM
To: Brian Eng
Cc: dsg-rtpc at jlab.org<mailto:dsg-rtpc at jlab.org>; Bob Miller; Eric Christy; JIWAN POUDEL; Mohammad Hattawy; Patrizia Rossi; Amrit Yegneswaran; Marc Mcmullen
Subject: Re: [New Comment] MFC104 seems flaky

Please go ahead. Nobody is using the system right now, and you can logout anyone who is still logged in (probably me).

On Mar 17, 2020, at 11:25 AM, Brian Eng <beng at jlab.org<mailto:beng at jlab.org><mailto:beng at jlab.org>> wrote:

I will start on setting up something that can from the same computer that has been used to control the target gas from. I'll need to login to test at some point, so if someone is logged in they'll temporarily be disconnected.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://mailman.jlab.org/pipermail/dsg-hallb_rtpc/attachments/20200317/e2eeaf87/attachment-0002.html>