Control system for tensile testing device using low-cost hardware and open-source software

M. Kranjec, J. Korinšek, M. Ambrož, R. Kunc
Strojniški vestnik/Journal of Mechanical Engineering, marec 2019

Abstract:

The aim of the presented work is to verify whether a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ can be utilized as a low-cost device for controlling a tensile testing device used for material research purposes. A list of requirements based on the already available hardware was composed which the new controlling system had to fulfil. To connect all the necessary equipment, a connection board was constructed and some additional hardware was acquired for the system to be able to perform all the necessary tasks. The whole controlling system was also put in a small enclosure to make it portable. The controlling system software was written in C++ using the Pigpio library. The developed system was then tested and results compared to a commercially available device Instron 8802. Comparison of the results shows that the upgraded equipment can produce comparable results to commercially available devices and is sufficiently accurate to be applied for research purposes in the field of the characterization of material properties of soft tissues and other materials.

Link: https://dx.doi.org/10.5545/sv-jme.2019.6418