In the summer of 2019 I inherited the instrumentation project for the UVic Rocketry (UVR) hybrid rocket project. In order to gain important experience in the design and testing of paraffin-N2O hybrid rocket engines, UVR has designed a sub-scale rocket engine specifically for testing called Mule-1. The instrumentation system performs the crucial role of measuring and recording cold-flow and hot-fire test data for control and analysis. Mule-1’s instrumentation system consists of various pressure transducers, thermocouples, and load cells connected to a LabJack U6 Pro DAQ, and a LabVIEW VI to process and log the data.
When I took the reigns of the Mule-1 instrumentation system, the system had just been transitioned from using an Arduino as a DAQ to the LabJack U6 Pro. Most of my work was in restructuring the LabVIEW VI and selecting the proper operating mode in the LabJack U6 Pro in order to more effectively process and save the data. In doing so, the data sampling rate was improved from 10Hz – an unacceptable value for such a transient and noisy process as hybrid rocket combustion – to around 1000Hz. A prototyping board for the sensor connections was also constructed in order to improve assembly and ensure correct connections.
A short article outlining the changes was written up by our DAQ sponsor, LabJack. You can find it here.
