SOW_RFQ_2017-Q-67091_KIP_1000.pdf

Statement of Work/Specifications for Control System Having Expansive Capability for Controlling a Triaxial Cell for a 1000-Kip CGS Electro-Hydraulic Test Machine

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Spokane Mining Research

Division intends to upgrade its controller of its 1,000,000-lb capacity Instron CGS Electro-Hydraulic

Testing Frame, and in so doing, add expansive capability for a pressure confinement cell that can also be controlled, which cell has not been purchased, and will not have been before commission of this new controller.

Minimum Requirements

Requirements listed below represent the minimum requirements for an acceptable product. All bids need to meet these requirements for consideration. Additional capability that might be considered to add value are listed and are to be considered optional and will be treated as options.

A. General Specifications

1. Controller shall control hydraulic power supply for an existing 1000-kip test machine and have expansive capability to control a triaxial cell that may be added later. The hydraulic power supply also provides hydraulic power to two other test machines: a 20-kip uniaxial test machine and a 300-kip dual axes direct-shear testing machine. Pictures of the test machines and hydraulic power supply are available upon request. Controller must function as does the existing configuration in activating the hydraulic power with control pod and software, namely, in a first-on-last-off activation mode.

2. The controller must be operated by computer and software, and have ability to manually control the machine with simple console controls.

3. Test machine and controller must perform tests according to ASTM and ISRM standards for uniaxial and triaxial tests on rock specimens.

4. Servo-hydraulic closed loop control shall be provided for existing sensors of the 1000-kip frame and for the potential of a confining pressure cell by the use of a digital controller that provides complete control of the servo-loop, data acquisition, and function generation.

Control shall be effected with 24-bit digital, closed-loop servo control with feedback using various sensors and calculated inputs. The system must be equipped with an axial displacement channel, an axial load channel, conditioners to control the hydraulic cylinder response and a confining pressure through obtaining feedback from and providing control for existing delta-P cell or 300-kip load cell, existing piston LVDT, a confining cell’s internal pressure, internal load cell, internal axial displacement or strain, internal circumferential strain, specimen-mounted strain gauge and average of strain gauges. The controller must be equipped to sense differential pressure with a Delta-P cell; that is, it must read pressure transducers on both sides of the cylinder, and use the difference for calibration of applied load. The controller must be able to handle a 300-kip load cell for control in place of the

Delta-P cell, with the only adjustments at most being a hardware connection and selection of a different configuration file.

5. The servo-hydraulic test system shall be run by a Dell T7610 personal computer workstation provided by the vendor. Specifications for the workstation and monitor are provided in another document. CDC/NIOSH will provide the operating system image. The vendor is free to install another copy of the operating system for the purpose of bench testing, but vendor software will have to be reinstalled after the CDC operating system image is installed at

NIOSH-Spokane Research Laboratory when the workstation arrives on site. Said computer shall have Windows 10 operating system platform, at the choosing of NIOSH, have a minimum of four 500 GB drives in mirrored structure so that 1 TB is effectively available for software and storage. These drives shall be Western Digital black SATA. Workstation shall have a CD/DVD RW drive. Monitor should fit in existing wheeled rack/enclosure or vendor may provide another rack/enclosure that better accommodates required space. Workstation shall include mouse and keyboard. The number of USB ports shall be at least three more than those used by keyboard and mouse.

6. The system shall have the capability to be programmed by the operator using a standard library of procedure calls designed specifically for real-time control of the system.

7. The system shall have the capability for fully-automated materials testing with the software application program(s) for testing with and without the confinement pressure cell. The software application programs shall run under Windows 10.

8. Sensor conditioning shall be at least 18-bit.

9. A double set of complete documentation shall be provide to NIOSH.

10. Twelve-month warranty and service agreement on the controller and software, including any software upgrades.

11. Vendor shall demonstrate with examples its past and current abilities to provide service and repair its products in the northwest of the United States, including response time.

12. Vendor shall provide at least two references who can describe their experience with the proposed products.

B. Confinement (Triaxial) Cell Addable Capability

1. Confinement cell sensors must be conditioned with existing controller modules to provide data acquisition and feedback in the closed servo loop.

2. Connectors shall be provided to mate with a confining cell that is addable at a later date.

3. Controller software must accommodate conditioning for and closed loop servo-control of a confining cell: specifically, its internal axial specimen load, confining pressure, pore pressure

(if that is a feature), specimen axial strain, specimen circumferential strain, and specimen strain as measured with strain gauges (as many as eight), and calculated inputs (e.g., average of like gauges).

4. Applied confining pressure and axial load must be servo-controlled. Controller must be able to control loading in a confining cell through feedback in a closed loop of specimen circumferential displacement rate (e.g., 0.003~0.005 in/min). In addition, the software and controller must be able to keep axial loading always at 15~70 psi above the confining pressure in order to avoid specimen lift-off.

5. Controller will be able to maintain constant confining pressure within 2% at a low level such as 0.05 MPa (7.25 psi).

C. Digital Closed-Loop Controller

In addition to specification listed under General Specifications, the following are required:

1. Controller shall provide digital closed-loop control of the system. The loop closure rate must be 4 kHz or greater.

2. Controller must interface with the existing servo-valve, a Moog model 760C262A or replace with a valve with improved capability.

3. The controller shall have the capability to perform automated dynamic control model switching between any present transducers for control of the test machine piston. Control modes shall include (but are not limited to) load control through a load cell or pressure transducers, and displacement control through a linear variable displacement transducer

(LVDT). Controller shall connect to existing primary transducers (load cells, pressure transducers, and LVDT) and be capable of substituting other transducers (load cells and extensometers) for control and data acquisition.

4. The controller must be able to control confining cell pressure and confining cell pore pressure, if that capability is provided, and data acquisition of the same.

5. Controller must be able to read temperature throughout the confining cell.

6. Controller must be able to read 8 externally conditioned inputs of strain gauges via an existing Alligator Technologies conditioning system, which will be updated/read simultaneously with other sensors at 4 Hz or better, according to the closure rate of the controller loop.

7. Digital conditioners shall have resolution of at least 24 bits.

8. Primary instruments for the 1000-kip test machine are (1) an LVDT (make unknown, Model

No. (?) 453051-04A; and (2) two pressure transducers (one is an MTS model 660.22A-73 PN

D067956-73 and the other was not determined, but may be the same) , and (3) a 300-kip load cell (Sensotec model 43/1343-01 PN 486438, 0-300,000 lb 10.0 VDC).

9. An emergency stop button shall be provided at (1) the load frame, (2) the controller or actuator panel, and (3) the test machine.

10. Logic will be provided to control the hydraulic power supply and allow operation of any of the other two test machines that it operates, in a first on-last off fashion.

11. Controller shall be able to handle calculated inputs for feedback and data acquisition.

12. User shall be able to adjust PID (Proportional, integration, and derivative) settings to tune settings to a particular sample. Automated and manual capabilities shall be provided, with detailed instructions for both, along with examples. An index of approximate settings such as in the form of graphs over a wide range of sample material properties and kinds of test configurations would be appreciated, but not required.

13. Controller shall have the capability to (1) manually change to different loading rates (load control or stroke control) on the fly OR (2) automatically change to different loading rates with logical detectors (software solution; for example, in stroke control, if load is below a given value after a given time, then increase the displacement rate) and sufficient end-of-test logic so that test do not end prematurely or run too long.

14. Controller shall have the capability to perform load-limited stroke control for ease of use and safety when loading specimens. Load-limited stroke control will allow the operator to position the actuator within an operator-prescribed maximum load limit. Regardless of external command, when the system reaches the prescribed load, no further load increase will be allowed by the system. This function will be available via a dedicated button on the control panel, a dedicated icon in the software, and as an action for limit detectors and event detectors.

1. Data Acquisition

1. Feedback from all connected transducers externally conditioned inputs, and calculated inputs must be made available for data acquisition at user-selectable rates up to the loop closure rate and synchronized on all channels.

2. All analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion shall be 18-bit or better.

3. Data shall be stored in ASCII or spreadsheet (such as Excel) files.

4. Software shall have the ability to open, write to, and close multiple data files during a test

(for example, if each stage of a long-term test is written to a separate file, data can be extracted after each state is completed) OR bidder shall describe a method to access data collected and written to an open file so that, in the case of a long-term test, current results can be analyzed.

2. Application Software

1. The application software shall allow the following kinds of test processes to be defined and executed in any control mode:

a. Monotonic process, with load, displacement, and strain for tensile, compression, and flexure tests;

b. Hold processes on load, displacement, and strain;

c. Step processes;

d. Cyclic waveforms, including sine, square, and haversine, and counters for the cycles;

e. Block sequencing with linear ramp, hold, step, and cyclic waveforms;

f. Event definition and detection;

g. External events or triggers;

h. Messages; and

i. User-defined processes and profiles by file playback.

2. The function generator processes to be controlled shall be 32-bit or better and shall include as a minimum definition of wave shape, end levels, frequency, number of cycles, and elapsed cycle count. The capability of manual and defined triggers shall be required for ending and starting defined test segments.

3. The software must be capable of system control, data acquisition, data storage to disk and real-time graphs of transducer data.

4. Data collection buffer system shall be flexible enough to control collection of data to capture peaks and valleys in data and capture events whose time of occurrence are not known. For example, with parallel buffers, one a continuous, time-interval collection buffer and a circular buffer with much smaller time interval could be used with an event detector to capture a fast changing event. Vendor shall address this issue with description and examples.

5. The vendor must have available standard software application package(s) that automate static, dynamic tests and provide for test profiles from a file such as a spreadsheet, unless such capabilities are already include in the standard software provided with the system.

6. An interface for the system through a workstation, utilizing Microsoft Windows 10 software is required. This is a requirement for fully automated testing and to minimize the chances for operator error. The setting of all machine parameters and machine status information will be available through windows on the workstation screen.

7. The application software must provide the ability to stop a long-term cyclic test when the feedback from a selected transducer reaches a user-defined value expressed as an absolute value or a percentage of the feedback amplitude at the beginning of the test.

8. The application software shall allow detection of digital inputs to the test system controller and allow digital signals to be output from the control system digital output channels.

9. The software should be able to provide calculated inputs to the controller based on readings of at least four instruments, including externally conditioned instruments. Standard mathematical functions shall be available, including but not limited to sin, cos, tan, asin, acos, atan, abs, sgn, log10, ln, exp, yx, if, and other standard logical functions.

10. The application software shall allow a virtually unlimited number of test procedures to be set up and stored.

11. All software application packages shall have an on-line help system that allows the user to search by keyword or access help information for a particular screen by clicking on the screen while using the help system.

12. The application software must store all data points in calibrated units from all installed conditioners and the data acquisition system in the same ASCII format.

13. All A/D conversions shall be 18-bit or better.

14. Software shall be able to handle at least 8 externally conditioned inputs.

15. The software will provide simultaneous digital oscilloscope (at least 4 at a time) and data display functions on the computer screen while a test application is running

16. Software shall have the capability to (1) manually change to different loading rates (load control or stroke control) on the fly OR (2) automatically change to different loading rates with logical detectors (for example, in stroke control, if load is below a given value after a given time, then increase the displacement rate) and sufficient end-of-test logic so that tests do not end prematurely or run too long.

17. Software shall have same procedural and data acquisition capabilities available for confining pressure and pore pressure.

F. Training and Other Services

1. Vendor shall install the controller and demonstrate that all components are in working order.

2. Vendor shall calibrate all instruments in all ranges, including if multiple ranges are used.

Load calibrations shall conform to ASTM E4 standards, Displacement calibrations will conform to ASTM E83 standards. Pressure calibrations will conform to the most recent

ASTM or accepted testing standard.

3. Vendor shall provide on-site training in operation and care of the controller, software, running tests, use of all modules, and various options.

4. Vendor shall include travel to perform installation, all calibrations, and commission of the system.

G. OPTIONS-Added Value

Option 1: Sensor conditioning having more than 18 bits.

Option 2: Miscellaneous capabilities for ease in controlling a triaxial cell.

Description of Space

Attached sketch shows the current layout of the testing room and the room that houses the hydraulic power supply. The sketch is not to scale, but is a reasonable approximation.

Period of Performance

Anticipated: Six (6) months.