Greetings,
That’s a pretty in-depth task… I’d start by finding myself a pencil with a decent eraser and a notebook.
You’ve got this CNC unit on one end of things and the presumptive selection of a cDAQ9189 chassis on the other. Deciding what to put in between can be tricky, because it’s entirely up to you to decide what you want.
You’ve enumerated the following items as things you’d like to measure:
- Force (linear)
- Torque (rotational force)
- Current
- Temperature
- Sound/acoustic vibration
- Mechanical vibration
- Digital signals
That’s an excellent start, but still a bit like walking into a restaurant and telling the waiter that you’d like food–additional details are necessary…
Give each of those items a page or three in the notebook, and start listing out the supporting details of your requirements for each. Boilerplate questions that apply pretty much across the board might include:
- Number of measurement channels
- Expected range of measured quantity at each
- Desired measurement precision/accuracy
- Desired sample rate
- Where you plan on putting the sensor
- Any ancillary requirements such as measurement synchronization, etc.
Think carefully about such things; your spec will ideally be just broad enough to capture the information you need and no more, because capability is money and the relationship is nonlinear. Take force measurements for example; it’d be one thing to measure (for example) average feed pressure, and a very different thing altogether if the goal is to capture reaction force as a function of tooth position within the cut on a 4-flute endmill spinning at 20K RPM. And if average feed pressure really is what you’re after? The waveform’s probably going to be quite fat unless one filters out the 80K impacts on the workpiece every minute…
With a conceptual definition of the requirements in hand, one can start shopping for sensors to fulfill those needs. The Sensor & Transducer product category is a very natural place to begin looking for such things that DK may have to offer.
I would point out however, that there is presently also an “industrial sensors” subhead under Industrial Automation and Controls, with families that parallel others under “Sensors.”
Unfortunately there is no consistency to whether a product is filed under one or the other at this time, so one needs to look in both to survey the available options. Yes, that situation is asinine. Yes, Words have been Spoken to said effect. No, it’s not likely to be fixed in the near future. But now you know, and knowing is half the battle…
While we at DK wouldn’t mind if all your money are belong to us, that’s not a realistic expectation. If you’re not already familiar, omega.com is a respected instrumentation shop that’s worth looking at.
With a slate of sensor candidates in hand you’ll have some idea of their interface requirements and can then start looking for suitable C-series modules to populate your '9189 chassis, which is available in regular or conformally coated flavors. Seeing as those modules are not exactly cheap, there’s likely to be some give & take between the sensor and module selection processes.
As for the LabView software, there are a number of different tiers and licensing options available, highlighted here. These and other NI software offerings currently sold through DK can be found here.
As far as quote/purchasing goes, that will to some degree be determined by whatever manner of hoop jumping and/or ritual sacrifice is required by your organization’s purchasing department. There’s a fair chance that your org already has a DigiKey account and payment terms set up which they’d prefer you to use, but failing that the fastest way to get a quote is to set up a my DigiKey account (Login/Register, upper right on DK home page) and add your desired items to a list, rather than a cart.
When satisfied with your selections, simply open the list thusly created and poke the “Create Quote” button at the bottom to create a quote.
I think the foregoing at least offers a starting point to most facets of your inquiry, but feel free to respond here as further/related questions arise.
