On 23 Nov 2012, at 06:13, Francois Lanciault <francoislancia...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi group, here is a short story for you this morning:
>
> My trusty QL is controlling a test setup built to qualify a new component for
> space use as we speak.
>
> To make the story short, I work for a company that build satellite and other
> space hardware. Two weeks ago, one of our design failed during an official
> life test in the lab. We made some changes to the design and we are about to
> restart the test soon.
>
> But I found out that changing the material of the failed part for a different
> type might be an even better solution. After talking to my boss, he said that
> we have no time to qualify that new material before the official test. His
> other objection was that a new test setup was needed to mechanically bend the
> part made of the new material for many thousand cycles before he would even
> consider it. There was no time, and no money. You need to understand that a
> setup like that usually cost a few $10000 and take about a month to built,
> program the test computer etc.
>
> The day after I told my boss: I WILL test this solution. Give me 24 hours to
> built the test setup, and it will cost you nothing. I agreed with a smile. 24
> hours later, the test was running.
>
> I use scrap flight parts, a couple of brackets and a lot of Meccano parts.
> For the actuator, I use a small $20 servo-motor that I had for a robotic
> project of mine. I also had the controller for the servo. This controller can
> be attached to a simple serial port. That is where the QL comes into play. I
> needed a computer to control the amount of bending, the timing, the large
> quantity of cycles and able to log everything. I also needed a computer that
> was easy to program, as I started to work on the program at 23h00. Because
> the QL is the computer I know best, the program was finished 2 hours later.
>
> The next day, when I installed everything in the thermal chamber, I must
> admit that it looks a bit foolish. But it did work. I closed the door and set
> the temperature to -50degC. Everybody knew it would not last through the
> night. But this morning I opened the chamber and it was still running great,
> 25000 cycles later. When I left work it was at 40000 cycles.
>
> Anyway, It is fun to see my QL in a lab running this test, and I thought you
> might like it. The other thing that I like is that I can work on my 3D game
> at lunch time :-)
Absolutely brilliant.
Are you allowed to take photos?
A video (youtube) would be good.
That is a story that could go global if your company would allow it. Great
publicity for the company and the QL.
I am very glad the QL didn't crash (8-)#
Tony
--
t...@firshman.co.uk http://firshman.co.uk
Voice: +44(0)1442-828254 Fax: +44(0)1442-828255 Skype: tonyfirshman
TF Services, 29 Longfield Road, Tring, Herts, HP23 4DG
>
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