Tech Notes

What is Signal Conditioning?

What is Signal Conditioning? Signal conditioning, with respect to process monitoring and control engineering applications, is the practice of preparing a raw input signal for use with instrumentation in a data acquisition and/or control system. The process typically involves one or more of the following steps: isolating, filtering, amplifying, and converting a sensor input signal to a…

How to Add Protection when Switching Inductive Loads – 8501088

The importance of adding protection to the load terminals in inductive load switching: a review of important inductor behaviors. Acromag manufactures products that are often used to switch inductive loads. For example, our digital outputs and alarm relays commonly drive inductive loads that include motor windings, solenoids, interposing relay coils, physical inductors, and even the…

What are PMC and XMC Modular I/O Standards? – 8401066

PMC and XMC Modular I/O – Established Standards in High Performance Systems The IEEE standard for PCI Mezzanine Cards (PMCs) initiated the first successful approach to truly modular I/O devices. Subsequent development has presented system integrators with the XMC modules, introducing support for switched interconnect protocols, adding contacts serial lanes for high-speed data transfer, and providing better…

What is the 250T Two-wire RTD Transmitter Failsafe Hook-Up Approach? – 8401068

Two-wire Transmitters and Their “Hook-up” to Achieve a Failsafe Configuration The attached analysis references Acromag’s 250T series RTD (100 ohm platinum) This type of hook-up is typically not used because the effects of lead-wire resistance inaccuracies are additive to the RTD measurement. However, when addressing the problem of FAILSAFE, this configuration offers the most predictable…

Speed Considerations for A/D Converters – 8401067

In this article, we will consider the basic conversion methods that are commonly implemented on commercially available boards and how these methods affect the throughput and accuracy of the data. Some Important Terms Resolution – The number of discrete values that a converter can produce over the range of analog values. A 12-bit A/D converter…

Inside a Multiple Channel Analog to Digital Converter – 8400953

Inside a Multiple Channel Analog to Digital Converter We will look at a common technique to implement A/D conversion in a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) board. The information is helpful in determining how to wire a system with multiple A/D sources. Acromag offers several A/D converters, including mPCIe-based Acropacks AP323 and AP341 and multi-function XMC module…