Development and characterization of a multi-platform Data Acquisition System for Power Quality metrological certification
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24084/repqj09.362Abstract
A Data Acquisition USB Device has been designed, developed, realized and characterized to be used in Power Quality monitoring activities. The system simultaneously manage 8 data acquisition channels to allow acquisition on tri-phases plus neutral lines working at 499 samples per 50 Hz period. It can get external certified time and voltage references to warranty certified measurements. The system is directly powered by USB interface and use a multiplatform FTDI Virtual ComPort drivers to yield a simpleto-use and scalable device able to send and receive data over High Speed RS232 virtual interfaces, without requiring any advanced programming skill. The virtual serial communication makes data acquisition software portable over many platforms, regardless development environment and programming language. The proposed device has been tested with custom software written in C# and VB6, than in LabView and MatLab environment, moreover it has been characterized applying the most common ADC performing test to verify its behaviour.