A Computer Controlled System for the Acquisition and Processing of Experimental Data from Reciprocating Compressors

A system is described in which a digital computer was used to control the acquisition, storage, processing and display of experimental data from a reciprocating compressor plant. Analog signals were conditioned, passed to an analog-digital converter and transferred to a mini-computer with direct memory access. The maximum processing rate of the analog-digital converter was 100, 000 readings per second. The digital signals were either stored in the computer memory or fed into double buffer stores which were emptied sequentially to a cartridge disc sub-system. Each set of data was read sequentially from a maximum of 16 transducers located in a compressor plant; a set was read at each t degree crankangle during a compressor cycle. The stored data was processed and displayed in digital form or in graphical form. The system provided more accurate results than had been obtained by more conventional systems, the storage capacity was large, and data could be processed and displayed very rapidly.