Crystal Instruments Spider-80SG General Data Acquisition Device with Strain Gage Measurement

The Spider-80SG is a high-precision, general-purpose data acquisition device whose distinguishing feature is integrated strain gage measurement. Built on Crystal Instruments' proven DSP-based platform, it shares the form factor of other Spider-80X front-ends, so it integrates seamlessly into the same measurement system with strong compatibility and scalability, acquiring data reliably from multiple sensors and multiple quantities at once. Each front-end connects to a PC's network switch over Ethernet; when used with a strain gage it measures strain from arriving signals by sensing the change in resistance as the gage is stretched or compressed. Beyond strain, it measures force, torque, pressure, acceleration, velocity and displacement, and can output an excitation voltage to power the sensors. The pluggable front-end design allows maximum flexibility in analog channel configuration, with 8 isolated analog input channels and one analog output per unit. Strain functions cover quarter bridge (120 or 350 ohm), half bridge and full bridge; bridge completion resistors are rated 0.05 percent with 5 ppm/degree C drift, an internal 100 kOhm (0.1 percent, 25 ppm/degree C) shunt calibration resistor is included, excitation can be set to +/-2.5 V, +/-5 V or +/-10 V at up to 30 mA per channel, and local and remote excitation sensing, zero suppression, auto balancing and offset nulling are supported. Using Crystal Instruments' Ethernet time synchronization, multiple Spider-80SG front-ends chain into higher channel counts, scaling to 512 channels. Each front-end carries its own mass storage holding the operating software and measurement data, a truly distributed design that records at full speed independent of network limitations. It works with the Spider-80X, Spider-81, Spider-NAS and Spider-HUB, and runs standalone, alongside a Spider-80X, or during vibration control.