I need to design a board to control a pressure tester. I need to create a 1 to 5 volt 12 bit ramp for a pressure command and read a 4-20 ma pressure transducer to 12 bits at 10 samples per sec. I also need to read some switches, drive some solenoids, and drive a display. Lastly, I need to interface to a laptop to graph my data.
I figured I'd use a microprocessor to do all this. The only problem is that I don't know how. This is where all yinz guys come in...
I need recommendations for books to select, design, and program such a thing. I got a few months so I have time to read and digest a few books on the subject. But they have to be the right books that give me what I need.
All recommendations will be appreciated, at least somewhat.
Sounds like you want to design the electronic portion of a complete product. I suggest you start with manageable chunks of it- start with blinking an LED with a microcontroller, or displaying the pressure on a DVM.
This is a very straightforward and quick project for someone who has done this sort of thing before, however there are a lot of things that can slow you down.
If you need a commercial product, you're probably best to contract the development out. Assuming competent work, you'll end up with a design that works right off and can be produced with minimal risk.
If you need a one-off test rig, you're probably best to use a single-board computer wot comes with a software toolchain and enough analog capability to handle your application. A PLC might be an option. You can use a signal conditioner module for the pressure transducer or buy one that has it built in. That means essentially no soldering or PCB design and you can concentrate on the software, which will be enough of a challenge. This trades materials cost for some of your time.
If your goal is learning, and your time schedule is flexible, then your suggested course of action is reasonable. Books? For the analog stuff, you could do worse than Art of Electronics, Horowitz and Hill. I can't say I've looked at it much myself, but I have heard Mike Predko's books on the PIC recommended, if that microcontroller family appeals to you. The one book of his which I looked at seemed to have a lot of errors. If you do go with PICs (as opposed to one of the more pleasant architectures such as MSP430 or HC08), I'd suggest you avoid
3rd party programmers entirely, as that can be a real source of frustration for beginners. Many of them are flakey or only work with certain combinations of computer/power supply/chip.
For 10 measurements per second, you'll probably want to avoid the very low end of the 8-bit range of micros speed-wise, particularly if you plan to use floating point calculations and/or do curve fitting.
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
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My potential customer has sold a few of these machines so far with someone else's board. He's not happy with the support he's getting and I might be able to undercut his vendor. There could be a demand of several hundred per year. Got specs?
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