Quality Innovations: All About Eve
MTI, a subsidiary of Mechanical Technology Inc., officially announced the release of Eve, a stand-alone measurement solution and data acquisition system, on June 18 at their shareholder’s meeting. Eve is compatible with most sensors, including MTI’s noncontact displacement sensors, allowing correlation of displacement, temperature, pressure and other physical parameters for test, research or process monitoring applications.
Two months prior to the release of a new data acquisition system, a digital clock displayed the deadline in the hallway at MTI Instruments Inc. (Albany, NY). Some engineers joked that they would then use another hallway, but there was no avoiding the deadline. Lights would be blazing at the facility at all hours, according to Bob Kot, vice president and general manager, and staff joked that the bags under their eyes were the result of the five-month time-to-market.
MTI, a subsidiary of Mechanical Technology Inc., officially announced the release of Eve, a stand-alone measurement solution and data acquisition system, on June 18 at their shareholder’s meeting. Shipment is expected to begin in the fourth quarter. It has not been a smooth ride-even just a week before the meeting the cabinet for the product arrived in brown instead of the desired black.
Eve is compatible with most sensors, including MTI’s noncontact displacement sensors, allowing correlation of displacement, temperature, pressure and other physical parameters for test, research or process monitoring applications.
“We believe Eve is the first system that incorporates precision noncontact dimensional measurement technology within a complete and scalable data acquisition system,” says Kot. It can be used for quality control, aerospace vehicle testing, medical device manufacturing, in-line process monitoring, machine tool gaging, spindle and shaft runout/vibration, and ultrasonic vibration control.
Before creating Eve, MTI asked 15 end users, systems integrators, OEMs, Tier One suppliers in aerospace, research and automotive industries what they wanted in a data acquisition device. Although Kot anticipated short, 15-minute interviews, the customers had a lot to say, with the shortest interview running two hours, and the longest, more than four.
Armed these customer requests, the engineers got to work, designing the product their customers wanted. Based on the information from customers, Eve is able to accept data from multiple analog and digital channels allowing numerous variables to be measured and correlated in real time. The data can be stored internally, on USB memory sticks or transmitted via Ethernet to any IP address on a particular network.
The basic instrument is the same, but it can be customized for a variety of applications with the interchangeable modules in the back. These, equipped with what MTI calls a “recipe,” can be endlessly customized, with 66 x 66 variations available. The recipe allows operators to configure the system based on their needs and save the recipe for future use. Unlike his imprecise ravioli recipe that never tastes the same way twice, Kot says the Eve recipe guarantees exact replication of tests and reduces set-up time.
Despite the product’s capabilities, companies will not be forced to hire software engineers to operate the system. “That’s exactly what we’re trying to avoid with Eve,” says Peter Opela, senior electrical engineer. MTI wants their customers to hire staff to make money, not to support their product’s software.
Comparable products do exist, but MTI insists these fill a different niche. Those systems may be more flexible, but also more complex. Other data acquisition systems may be used for only one application, and thus not flexible enough for some operations. MTI engineers wanted to create a customizable system that would not require an engineering degree to operate. In this lean-focused economy, companies often hire less technical people to operate machines.
Eve costs anywhere from $9,000 to $20,000, depending on features, which is more expensive than the competition, Kot says, but MTI hopes Eve also will be more useable. In a new step for them, MTI will also be offering prices online.
There are always things to improve, as customers from the beta testing period continually offer suggestions, and as with any first version, MTI already has ideas for the next version of Eve.
Physical: 400 mm D x 442 mm W x 160 mm H
Power: 100~240 Vac 47-63 Hz , 380 Watts (universal CE compliant autoswitching power supply)
Core processor: Genuine Intel Processor
Operating system: Windows XPE
Display: 6.5-inch diagonal color TFT VGA with touch-screen control (640 x 480, 600 nits brightness, 750:1 contrast)
Data storage: Internal 60 GB hard drive
I/O: ANALOG
• 2 front-panel MTI proprietary capacitance cards, enabling a total of 6 capacitive displacement channels. I/O: DIGITAL
• 1 digital 8-channel I/O card External I/O:
• 4 USB ports Chassis configuration:
Eve is housed in a 19-inch modular desktop chassis with an optional rack mounting kit. The enclosure is EMC-shielded, providing protection from electromagnetic interference and unwanted noise. The rear panel accepts up to four 3U cards that can accommodate any combination of signal processing modules listed above for a total of 8 signal processing inputs. The fifth slot provides digital 8-bit TTL input and 8-bit TTL output connections. Two additional front-panel slots can accommodate MTI proprietary 3-channel capacitive amplifiers cards, providing up to six simultaneous measurements of displacement, position or vibration.
Eve can be used for quality control, aerospace vehicle testing, medical device manufacturing, in-line process monitoring, machine tool gaging, spindle and shaft runout/vibration, and ultrasonic vibration control. Source: MTI Instruments Inc.
Two months prior to the release of a new data acquisition system, a digital clock displayed the deadline in the hallway at MTI Instruments Inc. (Albany, NY). Some engineers joked that they would then use another hallway, but there was no avoiding the deadline. Lights would be blazing at the facility at all hours, according to Bob Kot, vice president and general manager, and staff joked that the bags under their eyes were the result of the five-month time-to-market.
MTI, a subsidiary of Mechanical Technology Inc., officially announced the release of Eve, a stand-alone measurement solution and data acquisition system, on June 18 at their shareholder’s meeting. Shipment is expected to begin in the fourth quarter. It has not been a smooth ride-even just a week before the meeting the cabinet for the product arrived in brown instead of the desired black.
Eve is compatible with most sensors, including MTI’s noncontact displacement sensors, allowing correlation of displacement, temperature, pressure and other physical parameters for test, research or process monitoring applications.
“We believe Eve is the first system that incorporates precision noncontact dimensional measurement technology within a complete and scalable data acquisition system,” says Kot. It can be used for quality control, aerospace vehicle testing, medical device manufacturing, in-line process monitoring, machine tool gaging, spindle and shaft runout/vibration, and ultrasonic vibration control.
A variety of digital and analog display gages along with alarm indicators and graphs are available on the graphical display. They can be placed anywhere on the screen and even combined to create the exact display needed for any particular test. Source: MTI Instruments Inc.
The Beginning
MTI Instruments supplies precision noncontact physical measurement solutions, condition-based monitoring systems, portable balancing equipment and semiconductor wafer inspection tools. Customers came to them and asked for a product to meet their needs.Before creating Eve, MTI asked 15 end users, systems integrators, OEMs, Tier One suppliers in aerospace, research and automotive industries what they wanted in a data acquisition device. Although Kot anticipated short, 15-minute interviews, the customers had a lot to say, with the shortest interview running two hours, and the longest, more than four.
Armed these customer requests, the engineers got to work, designing the product their customers wanted. Based on the information from customers, Eve is able to accept data from multiple analog and digital channels allowing numerous variables to be measured and correlated in real time. The data can be stored internally, on USB memory sticks or transmitted via Ethernet to any IP address on a particular network.
The command console has a graphical touch-screen interface that is readable under almost any lighting condition and at any angle. Source: MTI Instruments Inc.
Despite the product’s capabilities, companies will not be forced to hire software engineers to operate the system. “That’s exactly what we’re trying to avoid with Eve,” says Peter Opela, senior electrical engineer. MTI wants their customers to hire staff to make money, not to support their product’s software.
Eve is designed to solve demanding requirements for test and analysis. Source: MTI Instruments Inc.
Eve costs anywhere from $9,000 to $20,000, depending on features, which is more expensive than the competition, Kot says, but MTI hopes Eve also will be more useable. In a new step for them, MTI will also be offering prices online.
There are always things to improve, as customers from the beta testing period continually offer suggestions, and as with any first version, MTI already has ideas for the next version of Eve.
- TECHNOLOGY CONTACT
For more information on Eve, contact:
MTI Instruments Inc.
325 Washington Avenue Extension
Albany, NY 12205
(800) 342-2203
E-mail: [email protected]
URL: www.mtiinstruments.com
Eve Specifications
• 2 front-panel MTI proprietary capacitance cards, enabling a total of 6 capacitive displacement channels.
• 4 dual-channel plug-in interface cards that can be any of the following combinations:
– Voltage input modules, 1 kHz bandwidth
– Current input modules, 3 Hz
– Linearized 2- or 3-wire RTD module
– Linearized 4-wire RTD module
– Potentiometer input modules
– Thermocouple input modules
– Strain gage input modules
– Voltage input modules, 3 Hz
– 2-wire transmitter interface modules
– Frequency input modules
• 1 digital 8-channel I/O card
All cards support auto-discovery that enables Eve to determine what card type is plugged into each slot and its specific configuration.
• 4 USB ports
• Ethernet 100 base (external laptop connection to perform complicated HMI configuration in lieu of onboard LCD/touch screen)
• RS-232 configurable serial port
• RS-485 configurable serial port
Eve is housed in a 19-inch modular desktop chassis with an optional rack mounting kit. The enclosure is EMC-shielded, providing protection from electromagnetic interference and unwanted noise. The rear panel accepts up to four 3U cards that can accommodate any combination of signal processing modules listed above for a total of 8 signal processing inputs. The fifth slot provides digital 8-bit TTL input and 8-bit TTL output connections. Two additional front-panel slots can accommodate MTI proprietary 3-channel capacitive amplifiers cards, providing up to six simultaneous measurements of displacement, position or vibration.
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