DilaSoft I V3 Delayed Start and Pre-Heat Pre-Heating of the furnace before an experiment starts. Delayed experiment start. (Not avaliable in the Lite version) Pre-Heating the furnace: Pre-heating the furnace is especially usefull for instruments that have specimen thermocouples that can not read at room temperatures. In the past, the furnace had to be controlled manually to raise the temperature to a range where the thermocouple would produce valid readings. With the new Pre-Heat feature, the furnace can be automatically pre-heated before the experiment starts by the software. This feature is controlled through the Main Menu Configuration settings. Since an instrument will normally use the same thermocouple for long periods of time, changing this setting would be infrequent. Setting the Pre-Heat feature is simpler than a single line temperature program. The settings include only the ramp rate in degrees per minute, the target temperature and a holding time to allow the specimen area to catch up to the furnace temperature. The Pre-Heat feature has a seperate on/off toggle. If toggled to off, the settings of the temperature program do not matter and the user can ignore them. When toggled to on, the settings must be valid! The settings for the Pre-Heat feature remain the same throughout all experiments until changed by the user in the Configuration settings. When an experiment is started with the Pre-Heat feature enabled, the Run-Time screen will appear as normal and then a new window will appear. This new Pre-Heat window displays the temperature program settings, current temperature of the furnace and the time held so far (when in the holding time period). The Pre-Heat can be cancelled and the experiment continued by clicking on the Continue button. The entire experiment can be cancelled by clicking on the cancell button. Delayed Experiment Start: (Not available in the Lite version) This feature allows the user to specify a starting time for the experiment. This is set in the experiment setup window from the Main menu->Change button. The settings for this feature is experiment specific because not all experiments would be delayed in the start. To set the parameters for the Delayed Start: From the Main menu tab, click on the Change button as for all other experiment specific parameters. There are two settings for the Delayed Start. The On/Off toggle and the start date/time. If toggled to off, the delay time does not matter. If toggled to On, the delay time must be valid. The delay time must be entered in 24 hour format in hours and minutes. The format is hh:mm, or hours from 00 to 23 and minutes from 00 to 59, separated by a colon ( : ). For example: If the current time is 16:30 (4:30pm) and the user wants the experiment to start at 2:45 (2:45am), the delay time would be entered as 02:45. Even though 02:45 is less than 16:30, the program will wait through 23:59 to the next morning to start the experiment at 2:45(am) IF the next day's date is entered in the Date box! In the previous example, if the current date is 11 and the operatore wants the experiment to start at 2:45am on the 12th, the 12 must be entered in the Date box. If the date box is left at the current date, the software will assume that the time has past and start the experiment immediately! If the current time is 16:30 (4:30pm) and the user wants the experiment to start at 18:00 (6:00pm), the delay time would be entered as 16:00. The program will start at 16:30 and wait until 18:00 and then start the experiment. Delay times set within a single day (not extending past hour 24 (midnight) do not need the date box changed. When the Delayed Start is enabled, the LVDT Position window will display, but it is run on a 5 minute timer. If no user interaction is taken after 5 minutes of displaying the LVDT Position window, the experiment will continue normally just as if the user had clicked on the Okay button. This provides for automated starts when using the Delayed Start feature. When an experiment is started with the Delayed Start feature enabled, the Run-Time screen will appear as normal and then a new window will appear. This new Delayed Start window displays the current time and the Delayed Start time. The Delayed Start can be cancelled and the experiment continued by clicking on the Continue button. The extire experiment can be cancelled by clicking on the cancell button. The delayed Start and Pre-Heat Furnace features can be used either together or separately. If you have any questions or comments, contact: Theta Industries, Inc. 26 Valley Road Port Washington, NY 11050 Phone: 516-883-4088 Fax: 516-883-4599 Email: theta@theta-us.com or support@theta-us.com web: www.theta-us.com For DilaSoft 32 bit software ONLY questions or comments: Rich Schmitt Email: rich@bearlycomputing.com