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April 2010
Amy_Fluke
0

Web applications, or "Apps", are all the rage. Running on a smart phone, they represent an intersection of the internet and a handheld touch panel. They provide a combination of fun and functionality - many of most popular Apps are games. They are fast and easy to use, contain a lot of intelligence around a specific task, and deliver fast answers. For example, the Carbon Footprint Calculator asks you to enter miles driven, airline trips taken and electrical / natural gas consumption, then quickly shows how many trees are required to offset your presence on the planet.

 

It turns out that Fluke has been packaging Apps for years in the form of specialty Digital Multimeters. They are fast and easy to use, and contain a ton of intelligence around Ohm’s Law, E= I x R. The smarts reside in firmware rather than software, and the platform is a rugged handheld DMM versus a phone. However, the outcome is the same - fast answers.

Here are four applications matched with a task-specific DMM to deliver the power of a modern App:

  1. For Predictive Maintenance, the 289 Industrial Logging Multimeter offers 0.025% basic DC accuracy, 100 kHz bandwidth and graphical display to support sophisticated logging and Trend Capture.
  2. For HVAC repair, the 116 HVAC DMM measures temperature and micro amps, plus offers selectable low input impedance often required with HVAC system components.
  3. For Process Calibration, the 789 ProcessMeter sources and measures 4 to 20 mA control signals, while simultaneously reading in mA and % of span. The meter provides Loop Power, manually or automatically steps in 25% of span, and includes a 250 ohm HART resistor.
  4. For automotive troubleshooting, the 88 Series V Automotive Meter offers millisecond pulse width measurements for fuel injectors, inductive pickup for RPM readings and 20 A current measurement for modern automotive applications.

 

Audition one of these Fluke Apps today to see the power and speed they can bring to your daily workload.

 

Bio: Rick Pirret recently retired from Fluke following 30 years in product design and marketing. Previously, he was with Bell Labs for 10 years in product and facility design. Rick studied mechanical engineering at Cornell and Stanford, and completed an MBA at Seattle University. Over the years, hobbies have included scuba diving, white water canoeing, flying, motorcycling, and bicycling. More recently, Rick likes to be outdoors in the Cascades Mountains or on-track in a BMW.

 

580 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: digital, dmm, meter, pirret, rick, multimeters
Amy_Fluke
0
http://www.flukecommunity.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=999&stc=1
Scary Creatures:
"you wanted to see thermal imagers of snakes...well its your lucky day...i got more than just snakes...i got a whole lot of scary creatures."...
Thanks Murdock, one of the Senior Member on Flukes Test and Measurement Tool Users Community.
770 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: ti, fluke, thermal, imaging, imagers;
Amy_Fluke
2

http://www.flukecommunity.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=990&stc=1

View blog...

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Amy_Fluke
0

The environmental test team at Fluke tries to break new products during development.  Here, from this fun-loving, happy-go-luck crew, are their top-ten torture chamber favorites:

 

10.  Let’s drop the packaged product, on all faces and corners - 24 drops - from 1 meter onto a hardwood floor.
9.  What the heck, let’s do it to the unpackaged unit, too - 8 drops - at storage temperature extremes of -400C to +600C!
8.  Why not subject the unit to vibration, up to 30 G’s, for 30 minutes on three perpendicular axes?
7.  Bombard the unit with electromagnetic fields and radio frequency emissions per IEC 61326-1 to see if we can get the readings to change!
6.  Let’s flex the outboard end of the test leads at least 10,000 times to 90 degrees, even though the standard only calls for a flex to 45 degrees.
5.  While we’re at it, let’s flex the inboard end of the leads, and test the terminals, for 10,000 cycles, too!
4.  Let’s run the product at temperatures down to -40oC and up to 60oC and try to get the readings to go out of spec.  Add humidity, up to 92% at up to 40oC, and run the tests again!
3.  Dude, let’s apply peak transients of 12 to 18 kV on the input circuits!
2.  Let’s wrap the whole unit in foil and subject it to electrostatic discharge of at least 20 kV.
1.  And finally, let’s push 30 kVA into the front end, while switching through the measurement functions, to make sure any failures are contained within the instrument case.

When the test team can no longer get a unit to fail, it can be released to production.  Why go to all this trouble?  So that when you take your Fluke meter into the hazards and hassles of the real world, the last thing you need to worry about is whether your meter still works.

 

 

Bio: Rick Pirret recently retired from Fluke following 30 years in product design and marketing. Previously, he was with Bell Labs for 10 years in product and facility design. Rick studied mechanical engineering at Cornell and Stanford, and completed an MBA at Seattle University. Over the years, hobbies have included scuba diving, white water canoeing, flying, motorcycling, and bicycling. More recently, Rick likes to be outdoors in the Cascades Mountains or on-track in a BMW

 

507 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: digital, dmm, multimeter, pirret, rick
Amy_Fluke
0

What is great industrial design?  You know it when you see it – art and science, function and feel, color and texture blended in a magical way.  The “celebrity” designers often got it right; Henry Dreyfuss in the 1965 Trimline phone, Raymond Loewy in the Air Force One graphics and Harley Earl in the 1953 Corvette.

 

Fluke has a long history of meticulous industrial design. Del King started it, George McCain carried it forward, and Chris Lagerberg leads the team now. They have given Fluke handhelds a clean, functional look, with a brand image you can spot across the room. Instruments fit the hand right and feel solid.  Rotary knobs have a lush, silky feel. Pushbuttons give crisp, tactile feedback. Displays are sharp and readable in a broad range of light conditions. Control layouts are intuitive. Users around the world can pick up a unit and make it work – with gloves on.

 

Throughout the design process, the goal is to include as many pleasant surprises, or "delight factors" as possible. In its Olympic campaign, BMW claimed "we don't just make cars. We make joy". Fluke shares that spirit, and it’s it is part of the difference you enjoy when you select a Fluke product.

Bio: Rick Pirret recently retired from Fluke following 30 years in product design and marketing. Previously, he was with Bell Labs for 10 years in product and facility design. Rick studied mechanical engineering at Cornell and Stanford, and completed an MBA at Seattle University. Over the years, hobbies have included scuba diving, white water canoeing, flying, motorcycling, and bicycling. More recently, Rick likes to be outdoors in the Cascades Mountains or on-track in a BMW

390 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: fluke, pirret, rick

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