Navigation:  Tutorials > Measurement tutorials > Counter > DEWESoft 7.0  data acquisition, processing, analyzing and storage software Frequency/super-counter

Finally let's talk about the mode, as it has many advantages over traditional counter measurements.

The problem with traditional counters is that the value of the counter is latched only at a sample rate interval. Therefore we only have discrete values on each sample. Since the second counter of Orion can measure exactly where the position of the pulse is between two samples, we can calculate two things out of this: the exact interpolated position of the counter at the sample point, as well as the exact frequency of the pulses.

So I suggest just to a look at how it works to get a better impression about this mode. The hardware configuration is as follows: we connect a signal (this could be from an encoder, as in example below) to SOURCE0. This is have also connected to the COUNTER4 input, just to be able to compare the results to the normal counter.

 

Now let's set up the channels. For the super-counter and the frequency measurement, we need to use two counters. Another limitation is that the counter channel needs to be an even counter (CNT0, CNT2 or CNT4) This is marked with the icon near the counter name . For example, the counter pair is CNT0 and CNT1, which is used in this case.

 

The counter 0 is set to simple Event counting + Basic encoder counting , and then the only thing left is to check the Advanced counter mode . Then the counter pair is set automatically and we have an exact count and exact frequency as the calculated output channels. The Raw_Count and Raw_EdgeSep are only for advanced purposes - they are raw values coming from the counters.

 

We have the Source0, also shown as a digital line and in the second graph the blue curve is the normal counter (raw counter values), which increases the value of each sample. Meanwhile the red one is the super-counter , where the values are interpolated between the counts, and even more importantly, also between the samples.

If you try this tutorial by yourself, try to set the signal frequency from half of  the sampling rate up to 50% higher than the sample rate. You will see normal counter staying the same for a  the sample, then jumping, then staying the same again or jumping for two values. In short, the result will be really poor. But if a super-counter is used, the values will be perfectly aligned to the input as shown in the example below.

Also, the frequency measurement will be perfect in this case.

 

The data file below shows the run-up and run-down of the test machine, where the super-counter and the frequency are showing perfect measurement results. This is actually the recommended way of measuring all advanced DSA features like order tracking, torsional vibration and rotational vibration.

 

We could also use other AD cards, DAPQ-FREQ or PAD-CNT for the same measurement, but the result would be much worse. Please take a look at the Frequency measurement tutorial for a comparison of  the different methods.