What are Data Loggers and their Applications

Instrumentation has got a lot of techniques to extract information or employ information from or to various machines and equipments. The field also has some miraculous gadgets that perform what the average human cannot. One of these products from the field of instrumentation is the data logger that has become one of the most crucial tools in different fronts of the mechanical engineering forte. But before we discuss these instruments, let us gain a brief insight into the field of instrumentation.

Operation of any equipment in any project belonging to any engineering segment involves a lot of application of instrumentation. They may small controls such as switch boards or diagrams but these small components may be used to control bigger instruments that related to mere electrical machines to major nuclear power generator. The component may be hired if required only on a temporary basis such as only during developing a project or may be used on a regular basis as part of monitoring and maintenance. Such a job requires constant monitoring and recording of activity as part of its maintenance, that is, it requires logging of the machines activities which we may call as “data” here.

Data logging is thus a part of instrumentation wherein information about the equipment is recorded for further reference during maintenance drive or for fault checking. This is best applied to areas where electrical equipments are subjected to be set to specific conditions such as in industrial electrical components. The cooling, wattage and heating levels of the system need to be consistently monitored. Such tasks may only be carried out by a data logger who has a relevant experience in handling such equipment.

However, data loggers are no longer people but are only instruments that actually require no professional to record data at all. Only while setting up the equipment does one need to touch it; the activity of logging is done automatically by the machine. These loggers help in identifying any electrical problems with the help of sensors. There are different kinds of such instruments depending on where the machine has to be used.

One such instrument is used for observing multipoint extensometers and multilevel piezometers. Another equipment that is made to record data helps in logging sensors that are few in numbers or of sensors that are widely distributed over an area. They are also useful in data logging of sensors that are unable to be connected to the central data collection system of the whole setup.

All the data logging equipment produce data that are thousands in numbers and seem worthless unless they are processed and presented in an organized manner. Now, making a graph out of these numbers by ourselves may seem a tedious and futile task because doing so may attract a lot of errors. Therefore, to address this issue, there are certain software that have been developed by leading instrumentation companies to ease the task of organizing the data in understandable format such as that of a graph.

Software for processing data in real time have also been developed while for the ones that do not require instant processing of data also have a special software developed for such projects. Mostly, the software are part of the data logger that one may buy; however, if one plans to hire the instrument, then the software may have to be bought or hired from the same company from where one hires the logger. Although, the software may be availed from other places too but it is surely a very important part of the data logging equipment because there is no point in gathering data that may not be able to understand accurately.

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