The goal was to retrofit ten systems for filling thermometers so that quality-relevant measurement data such as vacuum and temperature could be automatically recorded.
The sensors were connected directly to the PC via EtherCAT modules – without a PLC. A Hilscher card in the PC enabled direct access to the network.
I planned and implemented the entire system architecture, including a PostgreSQL database for storing the measurement values. Since LabVIEW cannot communicate directly with PostgreSQL, I developed a wrapper DLL in C# (.NET).
The LabVIEW frontend displays the measurement data in diagrams and controls the database connection. An automated data management system ensures:
- 2 years of user database with automatic deletion
- 10 years of backup database with automatic deletion
- Daily CSV backup on network drive