For this assignment an old traction bench was pulled out of the basement of the department of "Mechanics of Materials and Constructions".

The purpose was to create an interface between the old machinery and a computer, as to store the data produced by the bench. This way the data can be used to create a graphic representation of the data and to compare different materials processed.

Getting started was no easy feat, since we had to use alot of time and effort to discern the different components and its uses. Adding to this the numerous problems we encountered and the work-arounds needed to fix the problems we sure had our fun.

Specifically, we were searching for the electric signals responsible for the force applied and the displacement.

We found that the traction bench uses an encoder with two LDR(Light Dependent Resistors) to measure the displacement, each one generating a square wave. To measure the proper displacement we had to create a circuit capable of interpreting these square waves. Unfortunately, one of the two sensors wasn't functioning. ( See Problems )

The force applied was measured using a load cell situated at the top of the machine. Once the proper signals were located, using the fact that the resulting voltages are proportional to the force applied we found our data.

Check out the Software and Hardware section for more information !