Zwick and partner company CaTs3 have updated its suite of products relating to servo controllers and software for fatigue and durability testing in the Automotive and Aerospace market sectors.
Building on successful installations of the Control Cube system Zwick offers the Cubus software for the modular servo-controller. The Cubus software is an integrated package to configure and execute tests and includes various modules for cyclic tests, block programs and advanced ramp testing. The external test module also provides access to existing modules in the CaTs3 suite such as QanTiM and Dura software for service load simulation and durability testing.
Those in the market who are already familiar with the widely used K7500 controller will soon appreciate the enhanced capabilities of its successor Control Cube as a flexible and modular hardware / software environment. It offers several optional software plug-ins, each providing additional features to enhance the capabilities of Control Cube. Typical examples of plug-ins are:
- Integrated PID tuning facility, including Auto-tune and adaptive tuning
- Data module which includes acquisition, data export and data display
- Procedures and Event-action matrix
- Virtual channels
- Hydraulic grouping
- Security
- XY-Chart
The controller’s compact half 19” enclosure can be easily expanded with additional signal conditioning and chained together to form up to 32 channels of control. Differing user requirements have led to the development of the base software Cubuslight and a variety of Cubus test programs as well as the optional plug-ins mentioned above.
Cubuslight comes as standard with the controller and provides test rig configuration e.g. transducer calibration, servo valve and control parameter settings. In addition it provides execution of simple cyclic tests with various waveforms.
For more complex applications, various Cubus test programs are available e.g. the Cubus-Block program. Using a graphical test editor, simple or complex tests comprising cyclic blocks, ramps, dwells and nested loops can easily be created. Additional test programs include Advanced Ramp and External Test.
An addition to the Control Cube family of products is the new Signal Cube which offers enhanced flexibility and connectivity for signal conditioning and integrated data acquisition for strain gauges or analogue inputs. It offers the following features:
- Up to 6 modular plug in cards per Signal Cube chassis
- Each plug-in card provides 4 strain gauge channels
- 24 Bit resolution at 4096Hz max. sample rate
- Fully configurable ¼, ½ or full bridge strain gauge conditioning
- Integrates seamlessly via CNet to Control Cube