Entries for 'Brent Hoerman'

Testing your BMS is a necessity. Determining a strategy to complete that testing is not so easy.  It is tempting to over focus on hardware cost minimization, which must be weighed against the cost of ineffective or incomplete testing.  Here we explore three different strategies for balancing hardware cost with performance.

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Recently DMC put together another BMS Validation Test Stand for testing the BMS inside a PHEV battery pack.  Before we shipped it, we wanted to demonstrate the basic capabilities of the battery cell simulators, software, and other electronics. 

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So I've been using National Instruments hardware now for 15 years and programming in LabVIEW for 10.  First, that makes me feel pretty old.  Second, why is it that this is the first year I have gone to NI week?  I don't know.  But I finally understand why everyone else makes such a big deal about attending. It is a great time.  You get to network with a bunch of grea... [Read the rest of this blog...]

I'm not sure if anyone else remembers taking typing tests.  I know I do, and not fondly either.  While no fun to take, they serve a valuable purpose to a would-be employer.  If you are going to pay someone to complete tasks that involve entering text on a keyboard, shouldn't you make sure you are hiring someone who can crank out as many words per minute as possible, while ... [Read the rest of this blog...]

If you don't have in-house personnel proficient in LabVIEW development, how do you know if your integrator is proficient?  You could take our word for it, but why not go to an unbiased source.

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DMC has been involved in quite a few battery testing projects lately.  We thought it would be helpful to assemble a compilation of some of the general things we have learned into a new white paper.... "Electric Vehicle Battery Pack Testing in a Manufacturing Environment" If you are interested in the automotive battery packs used in electric vehicles (EVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), a... [Read the rest of this blog...]

For a recent DMC project I had the pleasure of working with Pickering Interfaces, a well-known international PXI hardware vendor, to supply an off-the-shelf PXI card which can simulate 6 chemical battery cells.  Since such a product did not exist at the start of the project, DMC had a large role to play in specifying its eventual performance and features. It's not every day you get to dream ... [Read the rest of this blog...]

DMC has been working on several "Green Engineering" and "Clean Energy" programs to develop test systems for clients developing or evaluating Battery and Fuel Cell Power Systems. Along the way, we have run into some fairly common battery and fuel cell testing equipment in these laboratories, which are produced and sold by Aerovironment (AV).  What are your software options for automating and controlling this hardware?  Find out here.

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I discovered an interesting issue with the LabVIEW 8.6 TDMS Write / Close routine I want to share and document for anyone else unlucky enough to encounter it.  In defense of LabVIEW, this issue is only encountered if the programmer uses the TDMS Write and Close out of order (yes, I admit to this).  However, in my defense, the error produced by such a 'boneheaded' programming mistake shou... [Read the rest of this blog...]

On June 2, 2009 I attended National Instruments' RF and Communications Technology Forum held in Schaumberg, IL. It was a very interesting, quick moving 4 hours.  Some of the highlights for me were: Watching a demo of using voice to text with LabVIEW quick drop to program using voice commands  (Look mom, no hands!).  For more info see this LAVA posting. Comparing th... [Read the rest of this blog...]

DMC's CSIA audit score exceded the benchmark for top integrators, reflecting our ability to provide succesful, well managed solutions through years of relevant industrial experience.

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