------------------------Monitor------------------------- The Newsletter for PC-Based Data Acquisition and Control Issue 40 www.windmill.co.uk November 2001 --------------------ISSN 1472-0221---------------------- Thank you for subscribing to Monitor and welcome to Issue 40. We hope you enjoy it but should you wish to cancel your free subscription please go to https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsletter.html CONTENTS ======== * Windmill News: Windmill Software's Tenth Anniversary * Capturing Data from a Torque Meter * Sensors: Where to Go for Information ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Windmill News: Windmill Software's Tenth Anniversary ________________________________________________________ This year Windmill Software celebrates its tenth birthday. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have used our software over the last decade. We started in 1991 with the premise that Microsoft Windows would become an extremely popular operating system. As we were a new company we could start with a clean sheet and design our software specifically for Windows, as opposed to cobbling together new versions of existing DOS-based packages. To take advantage of Windows' ability to run several programs at once, we made our software modular. You could buy only those parts of the system you needed with no necessity to pay for features you might never use. It also meant that Windmill systems could be easily expanded should requirements grow. Over the years our range of software has grown, and the programs have evolved - often in response to your suggestions or requests. We are especially proud of our latest offering - Windmill and COMIML. This package lets you log and chart data from, and control, almost any instrument connected to a PC over Modbus, RS422, RS485 or RS232 links. We've embraced the Internet and the opportunity it offers to distribute software, and, indeed, to offer some of our software for free. Over 11000 copies of the free Windmill 4.3 software suite and the new ComDebug terminal emulator have been downloaded from our web site so far. And of course, without the Internet we could not send you this newsletter. Our distribution has increased from when we used to post a paper publication to a few hundred addresses, to our current e-mail circulation of 12210 people. We look forward to developing more data acquisition and control software over the next ten years, continuing to simplify and lower the cost of your measurement tasks. For a list of all the Windmill modules, see https://www.windmill.co.uk/programs.html To send for free product literature go to https://www.windmill.co.uk/contact.html ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Capturing Data from a Torque Meter ________________________________________________________ Torque is a force that tends to cause rotation. Its SI unit of measurement is the newton metre (Nm) but in the USA pound-inches or pound-feet might be used. It can be measured with a torque meter. If the meter has an RS232 output, you can use the free Windmill software to capture its measurements. With Windmill you can log and chart the torque data, and send it in real-time to other Windows programs like an Access database or an Excel spreadsheet. For an example of how an escalator manufacturer is using Windmill to record torque, see https://www.windmill.co.uk/torque.html ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Sensors - Where to Go for Information ________________________________________________________ A sensor is a device that can detect a physical quantity, such as temperature, pressure or light level. There are many web sites covering sensors, and we've picked some of the best to recommend to you. Some of these provide articles about sensors. Some offer mailings lists and forums for sensors discussion. All provide useful information. Monitor Firstly a reminder of our own Monitor archive. We often discuss sensors here, in particular see: Issue 1, Transducer monitoring Issue 5, How to use your PC to measure temperature Issue 17, How to use a PC to measure strain For more articles see our archive index Sensorland This site is dedicated to sensors and measurement equipment. It includes new products, a problem page where you can post your sensing requirements or difficulties, application stories and tutorials on how different types of sensors work. http://www.sensorland.com/ Engineeringtalk Engineeringtalk is the first place to look for the latest product news on sensors, instrumentation and data acquisition. They pride themselves on the timeliness of their site, publishing press releases as they are announced and weeks before they appear in trade magazines. A free weekly newsletter summarises the top product launches. http://www.engineeringtalk.com/ Sensors Magazine A publication devoted to sensors. It includes news from the sensors industry and a library of technical articles. http://www.sensorsmag.com/ National Physical Laboratory Beginners guides to measurement from the UK's national standards laboratory. http://www.npl.co.uk/npl/publications/posters.html Global Spec Technical Library A series of articles on sensors. http://www.globalspec.com/ ISA-The Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society View posts to ISA's sensors forum or subscribe for the information delivered by e-mail. No need to be a member of the society
?visit=sensors">https://www.isa.org/shellcgi/lyri?visit=sensors Sensor Technology Information Exchange A forum for exchanging information on sensor technologies and needs. http://www.sentix.org/ Sensors Portal No original information here, but a library of links to sensor articles published on other web sites. http://www.sensorsportal.com/ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ * Copyright Windmill Software Ltd * Reprinting permitted with this notice included * For more articles see https://www.windmill.co.uk We are happy for you to copy and distribute this newsletter, and use extracts from it on your own web site or publication, providing the above notice is included and a link back to our website is in place. An archive of previous issues is at https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsletter.html and an index of articles at https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsletter.html Windmill Software Ltd, PO Box 58, North District Office, Manchester, M8 8QR, UK Telephone: +44 (0)161 834 6688 Facsimile: +44 (0)161 833 2190 E-mail: monitor@windmillsoft.com https://www.windmill.co.uk/ https://www.windmillsoft.com/
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