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Windmill 6

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Major New Version of Windmill Data Acquisition and Control Software

Windmill Software Limited are delighted to announce an improved version of Windmill, the data acquisition software suite. Windmill collects data from a vast range of sensors and equipment, including thermocouples, pressure transducers, flow meters, GPS receivers, laboratory instruments, USB and modbus devices. It comprises series of programs, all performing a specific task such as data logging.

Windmill 6 runs under all flavours of Windows. All programs are ready-to-run and no programming is required - saving you time. Being modular though, flexibility isn't compromised. To purchase Windmill with a money-back guarantee and free technical support for life, visit our DAQ Catalogue.

Data acquisition systems need to be versatile and easily expanded when requirements grow. The Windmill software suite meets these needs and has proved itself in hundreds of applications including:

• Quality assurance
• Research and development
• Health and safety monitoring
• Test and measurement
• Environmental investigation

New Data Logging Options

With the new Windmill, you now have four choices of how to trigger data logging.

• Start logging when your equipment sends new data
• Start logging when readings cross one of your alarm thresholds
• Start logging when you press the space bar on the keyboard
• Start logging when you press the software Start button

The first option lets your equipment determine when Windmill takes readings. It is useful, for example, if you are using a balance and don't want to record the weight of the same item twice. Windmill monitors the balance, and only saves new readings. Even if two items weigh the same, Windmill knows that a change has occurred and logs the second reading.

With Windmill you can set warning and critical alarms on each channel of data. Should you only be interested in saving data when alarm levels are crossed, you can tell Windmill to start logging only on alarm. You can also set the duration of logging. Say a temperature reading rose above a set point for 5 minutes. Windmill would log data throughout this time. When the temperature returned to normal, Windmill would continue logging for your chosen duration. It would then stop until another alarm occurred.

Here Logger is showing warning alarms on a blue background
and critical alarms on a red background

At regular intervals Windmill can automatically close the data file and open a new one. Rather than having all data saved in one file, this results in a new file for each hour's, each day's or each week's data. To save disk space you can opt to overwrite older files. You can choose to keep one day's, one month's or one year's data, or to keep all files indefinitely.

Other improved programs include the COMIML serial driver. The new version makes it even easier to interface almost any instrument communicating through ASCII messages over RS232, RS485, RS422 or Modbus.

Changes have also been made to Windmill's counting software: VTupload. This enables Windmill to count visitors to shopping centres, galleries, banks and such like. Version 6 lets you log total counts from several doorways and perform other more sophisticated calculations.

Truly Modular

Each Windmill program concentrates on doing a single job and you simply run as many programs as you need. You acn run several copies of each program, which means there are no fixed limits to the size of a Windmill system. Windmill programs include logging, charting, process mimics, alarm logging, PID control, sequence control and ActiveX programming tools.

For complicated projects, you could build specialised modules using a programming language like Visual Basic or LabVIEW. Let Windmill take care of the hardware configuration and control, logging to disk, and so on. The finished system could use any of the hardware supported by Windmill.

Handles a Vast Range of Equipment

Hardware Independent

All the equipment monitored by Windmill is configured with one program: SetupIML. This lets you select channels, give them names, specify linearisation and scaling to your chosen engineering units, and so on.

SetupIML scans the connected hardware and creates a complete default set-up to get you started. When you edit this set-up the menus and dialogues show only those options available with your hardware, so you cannot go wrong.

All the details are stored in files and you can create a library of files for different procedures. Your chosen channel names and details are used consistently throughout the Windmill system, even when data is exported to other applications.

A process mimic showing a brewery filter line

Is Windmill 6 Suitable for You?

1. Windmill runs under Microsoft Windows XP, 2000, 98, NT or 95
2. Supports analogue and digital input and output including:
   • counters
   • timers
   • thermocouples
   • RTDs
   • strain gauges
   • pressure transducers
   • encoders
   • environmental monitoring equipment
   • process control devices
   • laboratory instruments
3. Supports an extensive range of equipment and communications protocols.
4. Sampling rates from less than once per hour up to 10 samples per second per channel, or, with the Streamer module, 100000 samples per second.
5. Speeds up to a maximum of 200 samples per second with 20 or more channels, or with the Streamer module, 100000 samples per second.
6. Alarm indication on all inputs.
7. Supports network DDE so data can be immediately analysed by other programs (Excel for example), on other computers, anywhere on a network.
8. No programming required; all programs are ready to run.
9. Easy to use.
10. Free, lifetime, technical support when purchased from our on-line catalogue or one of our recognised systems integrators.

Some Comments from Windmill Users

"This seems like the best, most versatile, and professional data acquisition/processing suite I have seen."
FK, Chalmers University of Technology

"Takes away the tedium of old fashioned data-logging and post processing by combining the two tasks into one. It is possible to run simultaneous measurement, computation and graphical analysis macros in Excel under the Windmill environment."
Napier University

Buy Windmill

To purchase the new Windmill on-line visit our on-line DAQ Catalogue. To talk to a salesperson ring +44 (0)161 833 2782, or e-mail sales@windmill.co.uk. We provide free technical support for life and a money-back guarantee if Windmill does not do what you want it to.