Alicat M Series - Collecting Data; Data Format

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Collecting Data:

The RS-232 / RS-485 output updates to the screen many times per second. Very short-term events

can be captured simply by disconnecting (there are two telephone symbol icons at the top of the

HyperTerminal® screen for disconnecting and connecting) immediately after the event in question. The

scroll bar can be driven up to the event and all of the data associated with the event can be selected,

copied, and pasted into Microsoft® Excel® or other spreadsheet program as described below.

For longer term data, it is useful to capture the data in a text ﬁ le. With the desired data streaming to the

screen, select “Capture Text” from the Transfer Menu. Type in the path and ﬁ le name you wish to use.

Push the start button. When the data collection period is complete, simply select “Capture Text” from

the Transfer Menu and select “Stop” from the sub-menu that appears.

Data that is selected and copied, either directly from HyperTerminal® or from a text ﬁ le can be pasted

directly into Excel®. When the data is pasted it will all be in the selected column. Select “Text to

Columns...” under the Data menu in Excel® and a Text to Columns Wizard (dialog box) will appear.

Make sure that “Fixed Width” is selected under Original Data Type in the ﬁ rst dialog box and click “Next”.

In the second dialog box, set the column widths as desired, but the default is usually acceptable. Click

on “Next” again. In the third dialog box, make sure the column data format is set to “General”, and click

“Finish”. This separates the data into columns for manipulation and removes symbols such as the plus

signs from the numbers. Once the data is in this format, it can be graphed or manipulated as desired.

For extended term data capture see: “Sending a Simple Script to HyperTerminal®” on page 19.

Data Format:

The data stream on the screen represents the ﬂ ow parameters of the main mode in the units shown on

the display.

For mass ﬂ ow meters, there are ﬁ ve columns of data representing pressure, temperature, volumetric

ﬂ ow, mass ﬂ ow and the selected gas. The ﬁ rst column is absolute pressure (normally in PSIA), the

second column is temperature (normally in °C), the third column is volumetric ﬂ ow rate (in the units

speciﬁ ed at time of order and shown on the display), and the fourth column is mass ﬂ ow (also in the

units speciﬁ ed at time of order and shown on the display). For instance, if the meter was ordered in

units of SCFM, the display on the meter would read 2.004 SCFM and the last two columns of the output

below would represent volumetric ﬂ ow and mass ﬂ ow in CFM and SCFM respectively.

+014.70 +025.00 +02.004 +02.004 Air

M Series Mass Flow Meter Data Format

Note: On units with the totalizer function the ﬁ fth column will be the totalizer value, with gas select

moving to a sixth column.

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