LCC-230 Dual-Channel Liquid-Crystal Controller User's Manual
Contents
1. Look for initial USB USB root hub found de enumeration to host root hub HG No USB root hub lt RST e found A I I All host messages Here Host initiated i BCD switch except DYNPARM SUSPEND transitions CLSDEMO RST USB attach event and I enumeration to root hub I I I I i I i NEW STANDALONE USB detach event OLD HOST i Load amp execute program Run AC idle i selected by BCD switch condition on all i Status LED is ON or DYNPARM ON melanie LC_VOUT s Status l blinking message sent LED is OFF 1 from LCDriver2 RESUME E Look for BCD switch program Field host transitions or USB messages on USB enumeration event BCD switch ignored A fa All host messages Host initiated except RST i RESUME USB detach event DYNPARMFORE R NEW HOST X 5 Host initiated N a SUSPEND y RST Immediately load amp execute Program 0 N field dynamic parameter changes via N USB host messages from LCDriver2 No BCD switch ignored Status LED is N OFF Other loaded programs can be NG executed by LCDriver2 transferring Power OFF s them to Program 0 slot ON cycle NG LCDriver2 Utility Misc Standalone Mode CLSDEMO BCD switch transitions Deliberately severs USB connection to host otherwise identical to new standalone mode behavior OLD_STANDALONE LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 15 c Program Upload Download Up to ten LC programs can be pre stored on t2. The files LCDriverUsb dll and ulc_dd d11 are designed to support user programs that will be built as 32 bit applications and run in a 32 bit or 64 bit environment This is the usual case for most applications Please contact LC Tec for special arrangements to support programs using the toolkit that must be built as 64 bit applications and run in a 64 bit environment LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 12 6 LC Program Details Every LC program is either AC mode or DC mode and this choice must hold for both LC channels in the program LC programs can be written for one or two channels A one channel program must use LC 1 a two channel program uses LC 1 and LC 2 For a one channel program LC 2 is set to zero volts by the controller Every LC program consists of one or more lines of voltage settings for the active channels Programs may be up to 96 lines in length Each line is held for a time duration that is treated differently depending on whether the program is in AC or DC operating mode For AC programs the time duration must be an integral number of full periods of the chosen carrier frequency For example for an AC program running at 1 kHz the time duration for a line must be an integral multiple of 1 00 ms For DC programs the time duration must be a minimum of 0 10 ms and is settable in 0 01 ms increments from this minimum value 0 10 0 11 0 12 0 13 etc LCDriver2 will validate and appropriately round user ent
3. EC LCC 230 Dual Channel Liquid Crystal Controller User s Manual Manual revision October 2013 LC Tec Displays AB Tunavagen 281 SE 781 73 Borl nge Sweden 46 243 79 40 70 www lc tec com Made in USA Copyright 2013 Optical Finesse LLC for LC Tec Displays AB Table of Contents N Description amp Specifications nicsen e as toner ees a Sed alas ot os 1 Satety Considerations si it 4 O a o o 5 Front amp Back Panels A Aa a Ces 6 aie Erotic ld 6 b BI a de ER Ae 7 Getting Started iscsi ons ir are RT ns BA SR NASSA UNGRARE RS ANNARS AN NOS T HAANS REA E E ES 8 a New installs on Windows 7 amp Vista systems s ssessssssessersssressrsrnssrrsnrrsrrsnrerrrsrrsnrrernernr 9 b New installs on Windows XP amp Windows 2000 systems sssserssrsssressssrnssrennrsr 10 c Updating LCDriver2 on an existing iNnStall s ssssseserssrsrsrsorssrrsrrennrsrrsrrrnrnsnrrn nn 11 d Errata so sedda seb jaccaagh tea a eh RNA Ras SAR re aaa 12 A Program I Cat Saitek i colons bee teel eas eS eee oe Set oa leh 13 s E A 13 b Host amp Sandalias 14 c Program Upload Download iii 16 LCDriver2 Application Do rr rn o e 17 Le DIC A OA 17 b Fle MEDI AA ia 18 Upload Download Menta A EN 20 de Utility Mi da aloe 21 e Adyanced TOPICS O drar rr a AA so RENAR alas GA toe 24 1 Description amp Specifications The LCC 230 is a flexible full featured dual liquid erystal controller specifically designed to drive all mod
4. Lock Row Voltage is a toggle setting when set a checkmark appears by the option Re selecting the option will turn it off When turned on changes to any cell voltage value in a row will replicate the new value to all other cells in that row LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 24 Normally the host computer s up down arrow edit keys will increment decrement the digit immediately to the left of the cursor when the cursor is in a time or voltage edit box in the program matrix The Utility 50 mV Steps option changes this default behavior of the up down arrow edit keys when editing a cell voltage This option is a toggle setting when set a checkmark appears by the option Re selecting the option will turn it off When turned on and the cursor placed in a voltage edit box in the program matrix the up down arrow edit keys will increment decrement the voltage by 0 050 V regardless of where the cursor is positioned in the edit box This option is intended to facilitate adjustments in applications where the least discernable optical difference corresponds to about a 50 mV adjustment With this option the cursor arrow can be positioned in a cell and adjustments made by the up down arrow keys while the user s eyes continuously monitor the optical setup The Lock Row Voltage option may be used in conjunction with the 50 mV step option to change all voltages is a row in 50 mV increments by up arrow key adjustments of one cell in the row These op
5. Restart now 7 After computer restart plug the supplied USB cable into the controller s front panel USB receptacle and plug the other end into one of the host computer s USB ports Power up the controller using the back panel rocker switch The green Power LED should be ON 8 The Found New Hardware Wizard will appear onscreen If a Wizard dialog appears asking to connect to Windows Update choose No not this time 9 Select Install from a list or specific location Advanced in the Wizard to install the USB device drivers 10 Select Search for the best driver in these locations Include this location in the search in the Wizard 11 Using the Browse button navigate to the subdirectory C Program Files LCDriver2 USB Drivers WinXP 2000 Found New Hardware Wizard Please choose your search and installation options SS Y Search for the best driver in these locations Use the check boxes below to limit or expand the default search which includes local paths and removable media The best driver found will be installed Search removable media floppy CD ROM Y Include this location in the search C Program Files LCDriver2 USB Driversswir sP 20C C Don t search will choose the driver to install Choose this option to select the device driver from a list Windows does not guarantee that the driver you choose will be the best match for your hardware lt Back Next g
6. Series B USB receptacle for USB to host computer Ten position pushbutton switch for program selection in standalone mode Back panel 50 ohm BNC female bulkhead for Trigger Input Mini DIN6 receptacle for LC output 2 1 mm power jack receptacle 12VDC power ON OFF switch 00 compliant no exemptions used Provisionally certified to EN 55022 EN 55024 and EN 61010 1 formal certification pending 51045 C Power supply separate International 12VDC 18W 100 240VAC 50 60Hz supplied with controller input UL CE listed 2 1 x 5 5 mm center positive plug In keeping with our commitment to continuous product improvement these specifications are subject to change without notice LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 3 2 Safety Considerations The following safety and maintenance considerations should be observed e The controller is for indoor use only and not to be used in wet or moisture laden environments The controller should only be operated in relative humidities between 20 80 non condensing and at temperatures between 5 to 45 C 12V 1 5A The electrical input rating of this device is 12VDC 1 5A Use only with supplied AC mains adaptor international power supply e The power disconnect means for the controller is the ON OFF switch located on the back panel In addition the mains socket outlet for this supply should be installed near the controller and be readily accessible For normal use we recommend pluggi
7. blank program is selected in standalone mode by pushbutton switch or when the controller is in OLD_HOST mode Set idle voltages and idle frequency LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 20 Blink Controller LED will briefly strobe the Status LED of the currently active controller It is useful when there are multiple controller on USB to help identify the currently active controller selected by the Device control in LCDriver2 It can also be used as a confirmation of host computer controller USB connectivity d Utility Menu The options available from the Utility menu are not as frequently used Some of this File Upload Download Utility About functionality is more advanced and is aren gt 50 m Steps E C Lock Row Voltage discussed in Sec 7 e below Misc gt Monitor is a submenu that controls he lj behavior of a sub window that displays mie lt 1 the actual LCDriver2 LCC 230 Monitor Show Monitor Ctrl M 50 m Steps Clear Monitor Ctri Shift M Lock Row Voltage New Log File Ctrl Shift N Misc gt controller protocol message stream The Monitor is primarily used for diagnostics and troubleshooting Selecting Show Monitor will open the Monitor sub window just below the main application window The LCDriver2 commands and queries sent to the LCC 230 are shown one per line with the LCDriver2 message on the left and the corresponding response from the controller on
8. the New Log File option This option is intended for test setups where records of each run are desired to be kept in separate files The 50 mV Steps and Lock Row Voltage options are discussed below in Sec 7 e The Mise submenu allows access R to special controller features The ro only item in this menu normally 5 Monitor gt accessed by most users is the 50 mV Steps ware Version 3 Manual Voltage option Lock Row Voltage ware Version 1 03 13 Manual Voltage Ctri Shift W Open Terminal Ctri Shift T Reset Controller Ctri Shift R Standalone Mode Ctri Shift S Trigger Mode Manual Voltage opens up a separate dialog box that permits simple static amplitude control of the LC channels in AC mode PY Manual Voltage lel Es Mode F Hz Cell 1 iv Cell2 V3 fac y 100 7 6 213 7 017 Done In this mode there is no concept of dynamic host state or LC programs The LCC 230 is forced into AC operating mode in the OLD_HOST state The edit boxes act as knobs that just set a fixed carrier amplitude for each cell For nematic LC cell applications AC mode should be used However DC mode can be set as well when selected warning message boxes will appear cautioning about possible device damage If Continue is chosen and DC mode selected the controller will output DC voltages of the selected polarity on each channel When the Manual Voltage dialog bo
9. the controller to adjust the currently active program to agree with the file read in Quit will exit LCDriver2 but leave the controller s on USB operating in the NEW_HOST state running the currently active program If there are program changes made in LCDriver2 that have not been uploaded to the controller warning prompts will appear as shown below Program edits have NOT been uploaded to the controller Exit anyway Cancel Program edits have NOT been uploaded to the controller Save to ASCII files Save to files LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 19 c Upload Download Menu The options available from the Upload Download menu permit File Upload Download Utility About transfer of LC programs to from Download All Programs From Controller Ctrl D LCDriver2 s program memory and the Upload All Programs Into Controller Ctrl U LCC 230 s program memory The Upload Current Program To Ctrl T LCC 230 controller has an onboard Erase Program Ctrl E EEPROM that retains LC program Set AC Idle Ctrl I contents for operation in controller standalone mode Blink Controller LED Ctrl B Download All Programs From Controller will refresh all slots of LCDriver2 s program memory with the contents of the currently active controller s EEPROM If program changes have been made in LCDriver2 and not been saved to text files a prompt warning will appear before the controller s EEPROM
10. 7 below LCDriver2 permits saving LC programs to the host computer s hard drive For Windows XP amp 2000 operating systems the default location LCDriver2 will use for these programs is My Documents LCDriver2 Data programs For Windows 7 amp Vista operating systems the default location LCDriver2 will use for these programs is Libraries gt Documents gt My Documents gt LCDriver2 Data gt programs A DLL device driver toolkit is available for interfacing the LCC 230 to a user supplied application Please contact LC Tec for further technical and support information on the application programming interface to this toolkit The device driver toolkit is installed during the LCDriver2 installation process described above Programmers who plan to use the toolkit to develop their own applications that incorporate the LCC 230 should first install the LCDriver2 package as the toolkit s DLL requires the LabVIEW runtime engine which is installed with LCDriver2 After successful installation programmers should copy LCDriverUsb d11 from LCDriver2 and ulc dd dll from LCDriver2 Toolkit to the local subdirectory of their application Do NOT use the version of LCDriverUsb d11 found in LCDriver2 Toolkit The version of LCDriverUsb d11 installed in LCDriver2 will be the correct one for the host operating system the 411 in LCDriver2 Toolkit is an older version that must remain in this subdirectory due to a LabVIEW installer artifact
11. Use only the power supply shipped with the controller e ON OFF rocker switch for 12VDC input power nic 6 i 5 n c COM 4 3 COM LC 1 2 1 LC 2 Pin out of female LC Output mini DIN6 receptacle looking at face of connector LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 7 5 Getting Started Prior to using the LCC 230 the LCDriver2 application must be pre installed on the host computer to be used with the controller This application and the associated USB drivers are available as a monolithic ZIP file downloadable from the Internet Please consult with LC Tec for the appropriate URL for your specific controller The installation process will extract information from the ZIP file and create an installation subdirectory After successful installation both the downloaded ZIP file and the installation subdirectory can be deleted The installation process depends on the host computer operating system as detailed below Directions are also given for updating a pre installed LCDriver2 version with the most recent version Prior to software installation unpack the LCC 230 and plug the supplied AC power cord into the 12VDC international power supply Connect the power supply to AC mains with the AC power cord Insert the 2 1mm plug of the 12VDC supply into the jack on the controller back panel and insure that the rocker power switch on the back panel is OFF thrown to left Leave the controller off until instructed to turn it o
12. computer and the host can run or dynamically edit executing LC programs through the LCDriver2 application In standalone mode no host computer and USB connection are present The controller executes LC programs that have been previously stored in EEPROM onboard the controller the front panel ten position pushbutton switch selects which program the controller is currently running LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 3 4 Front amp Back Panels A brief description of the front amp back panel indicators controls amp connections follows a Front Panel Program F C Selection LCC 230 PalarSpeed USB Power Fault To Host Status e Power LED lit green when controller is connected to power supply and properly powered normal operation e Fault LED In normal operation this LED is off It will be lit red when a short circuit or other fault condition exists on an LC output When the short circuit or fault is removed this LED will automatically turn off The Fault LED will also be illuminated if a fault condition exists in the controller s internal analog voltage supplies e Status LED will be lit blue and steady ON when controller is running a pre set program in standalone mode If a blank or bad program is selected in standalone mode by the pushbutton switch the Status LED will blink slowly When the controller is operating in host mode USB connection present the Status LED wil
13. contents are read This menu option can be used to resync LCDriver2 s program memory with the LCC 230 s EEPROM Upload All Program Into Controller will transfer all programs slots in LCDriver2 program memory into the corresponding slots of the LCC 230 s EEPROM This menu option will make the controller s onboard EEPROM programs identical to what is currently being held in LCDriver2 Upload Current Program To will transfer the currently active program in LCDriver2 into a designated controller EEPROM slot Most users will find this to be a frequently used option of the Upload Download menu A prompt will appear allowing the user to select a LCC 230 program slot note this need not be the same slot as selected by the LCDriver2 Program drop down control Once the update is complete LCDriver2 will adjust its program memory to agree with the contents of controller EEPROM Erase Program will prompt for a controller EEPROM slot to make blank and then blank out this program slot both on the controller and in LCDriver2 By definition a blank program is a one line two cell AC Internal Trigger program with carrier frequency and cell voltages set to the currently set AC idle frequency and amplitudes Set AC Idle sets the AC carrier frequency and cell amplitudes of the AC idle condition The controller cli C20 Fett will output this AC idle frequency and amplitudes when oo ml blank program is created in LCDriver2 a
14. des can be set by host software When a controller in standalone mode is reattached to USB the controller will transition back to host mode Prior to LCDriver2 being run the LC channels will run AC idle condition at their set frequency and amplitudes A more detailed state diagram is shown on the following page Normally the controller makes transitions between the POWER UP OLD HOST NEW HOST and NEW_STANDALONE states The controller is in the NEW_HOST state dynamic host mode while LCDriver 2 is being run the controller is normally in OLD HOST when the DLL toolkit is being used with a user supplied application Note that the controller will normally transition to the NEW_STANDALONE state upon a USB detach The OLD_STANDALONE state is a special state that is only accessible by a command issued by LCDriver2 In OLD_ STANDALONE the controller deliberately severs its USB connection to the host This state is useful for setups in which the controller must always execute a pre set stored program even if the controller is re attached to USB In the normal NEW_STANDALONE standalone state a USB attach event will cause the controller to stop executing its pre loaded program run AC idle condition on its channels and await instructions from the host computer This behavior differs from OLD STANDALONE as USB attach and detach events do not transition the controller out of this state LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 14 Ny POWER_UP
15. e Trigger the time durations for each line are ignored and the voltages of the lines of the program are held indefinitely until a trigger edge appears on the BNC connector A rising trigger edge advances the program to the next line At the last line of the program execution wraps back to the first line LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 13 b Host amp Standalone If upon controller power up the LCC 230 is recognized and enumerated by a USB root hub the controller will go into host mode and accept messages from the host computer In host mode the front panel pushbutton switch setting is ignored and the front panel Status LED is OFF The host mode application may be either LCDriver2 or a user supplied application that accesses the controller functionality through the DLL device driver toolkit Contact LC Tec for further details about the device driver toolkit If there is no USB root hub present upon power up or if the controller is dynamically detached from USB the controller will go into standalone mode In standalone mode the controller executes whichever pre loaded LC program is selected by the ten position pushbutton switch The front panel Status LED is steady ON in standalone mode If a blank un programmed LC program is selected by the pushbutton switch the Status LED will blink slowly and the LC outputs will run an idle condition of AC carrier on both channels The AC idle carrier frequency and voltage amplitu
16. els of LC Tec s Fast Optical Shutter FOS series The LCC 230 incorporates two independent LC channels each with 30Vpyys of range and fully short circuit protected The LC channels are capable of operating either AC carrier or DC carrier less and can drive large area cells up to 650 nF capacitance The controller is operated by the LCDriver2 application via a full speed USB 2 0 compliant interface LCDriver2 permits dynamic editing of AC or DC programs up to 96 lines in length A separate dialog box of the LCDriver2 application permits simple amplitude control of the LC channels in AC mode Three trigger modes internal line program determine how program lines are executed Up to nine programs may be pre stored on the LCC 230 for standalone execution upon disconnect of the USB cable A front panel pushbutton switch selects the executing standalone program The controller is 100 RoHS compliant and is powered by a separate 12V international power supply Grec ser PolarSpeed Power LCC 230 User s Manual www lce tec com Technical Specifications LC CHANNELS AAN Number of LC channels Two independently programmable suppressed LC drive waveforms software selectable AC waveforms Square wave carrier 50 00 duty cycle Frequencies of PA 1 Hz to 2 0 kHz software selectable Bipolar 0 10 ms minimum time interval 0 01 ms interval resolution Amplitude resolution 16 bit 1 mV voltage resolution Amplitude acc
17. en dynamically edited LCDriver2 YA LC programs retained by LCDriver2 Currently active program as selected by Program drop down USB Program 0 is always the currently active program when using LCDriver2 automatically tracks amp stores all changes Ten slots for retaining LC programs in EEPROM front panel pushbutton switch selects active program in standalone mode LCC 230 LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 16 7 LCDriver2 Application Details This section explains the functionality of the LCDriver2 application supplied with the LCC 230 LCDriver2 can be used to read edit and store LC programs on controllers a Overview The main application window of LCDriver2 is shown below as it appears when connected to a controller PY LC Driver 2 Aa ES File Upload Download Utility About Software Version 3 Dynamic Connection EC Max 31 6 Firmware Version 1 03 cell1 d MR Serial Number 01003 E cell2 Y Ae 0 Program BA Operation Mode Trigger Mode Lines Cells DC Operation z Internal Trigger ale 2 Line tms Cell 1 Cell 2 4 1 10 200 24 000 424 000 2 8 130 0 000 0 000 3 8 330 24 000 0 000 gt 1 I Channel Voltage Y d Device 3 of 1 The software version of LCDriver2 is displayed at the application window center below is the embedded software firmware version of the active LCC 230 controller and
18. freset the controller Continue Cancel As explained in Sec 6 b OLD STANDALONE should only be entered in circumstances where the controller must continue to operate a standalone program even if inadvertently reattached back to USB LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 23 e Advanced topics If only one standalone LC program is of interest or needed in a situation a short cut can be taken by leaving the controller s front panel pushbutton switch set to 0 As explained above all LCDriver2 program edits are implicitly performed on Program 0 If the front panel switch is left in the 0 position the controller will automatically execute the currently active program that has been automatically stored in the Program 0 slot when placed in standalone mode LCDriver2 handles USB attach and detach of controllers while the application is running LCDriver2 also handles multiple instances of LCC 230 controllers on USB Although the Device control at window bottom is continuously updated with the number of controllers currently on USB to avoid confusion it is recommended that all controllers be attached to USB prior to LCDriver2 being run The Device control selector will determine which controller LCDriver2 is currently addressing The Upload Download Blink Controller LED option may be used to facilitate controller identification When a controller is first selected on USB LCDriver2 will issue a RST and read a
19. he controller s onboard EEPROM Programs 1 through 9 are user accessible slots to store or retrieve programs When a controller is first attached to USB with LCDriver2 running LCDriver2 will automatically read all pre stored programs on the controller and retain a copy of each program in its own memory for later editing When using LCDriver2 it is important to understand and maintain the distinction between the LC programs retained by LCDriver2 stored in the host computer s memory and the LC programs retained by the LCC 230 stored in the controller s onboard EEPROM Program 0 has a special role Program 0 on the controller tracks and stores in onboard EEPROM whatever program changes are made in LCDriver2 even if these changes are not explicitly uploaded to the controller In this sense Program 0 is a special scratchpad program to which all edits are made and for which the last state is always saved automatically In dynamic host mode LCDriver2 running NEW_HOST state the controller is always executing Program 0 and any parameter changes made to Program 0 are immediately observable in the executing LC program In LCDriver2 the currently active program is always implicitly Program 0 All LC programs are composited in the Program 0 slot and then transferred to other program slots by LCDriver2 Likewise to edit a previously saved program in another slot it must first be transferred to the Program 0 slot by LCDriver2 and th
20. he various sections and how to edit them in an ASCII text editor such as Notepad LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 18 Save All Programs to Files will save all programs currently retained in LCDriver2 s memory to ASCII text files It will prompt for a file prefix e g SetA for the program set and then store ten programs to the designated location using the file prefix to compose names for all LC programs e g SetA_ Prog 1 SetA Prog 2 Program 0 will also be saved as a text file Note that this menu option does not send any messages to the attached controller Load All Programs From Files will load LCDriver2 s program memory with ten programs previously stored on the host with the Save All Program option It will prompt to choose one file from sequence and then will read all files into memory Messages will be sent to the controller to adjust the currently active program to agree with the file read in for this slot The Save Load All Program menu options can be used to replicate one controller s programs to other controllers as explained in Sec 7 e below Save Current Program To File will save the currently active program in the editor to a text file with an arbitrary name This menu option does not send any messages to the attached controller Load Current Program From File will load a pre stored LC program in a text file into the currently active program Messages will be sent to
21. its serial number The box in the left portion of the window displays the edit controls for the currently active LC program To the right is a graphical representation of one cycle of the program There is a trace for each LC cell in the program display of the traces is controlled by the checkboxes adjacent to the trace To the right is the Dynamic Connection annunciator which is always displayed when LCDriver2 has a good USB connection to a controller If the controller is detached from USB or if there is a USB communications problem this annunciator will change to No Connection LCDriver2 supports multiple instances of LCC 230 s on USB The currently active controller is selected by the Device control at window bottom This control also shows how many LCC 230 s are presently on USB When LCDriver2 is first connected to a controller it automatically reads all pre stored programs on the controller and will then make Program 1 the currently active program The Working and USB Com buttons at window bottom will be briefly illuminated during this process The USB Com button will be illuminated orange whenever there are messages sent between LCDriver2 and the controller LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 17 All edit controls affect the currently active LC program The currently active program is selected by the Program drop down control As explained in Sec 6 c above Program 0 is a specia
22. l LC program and thus is grayed out in this drop down Program 0 is in fact always the currently active program If a selected controller program happens to be blank LCDriver2 will display Blank Program in red adjacent to the Program drop down control Blank programs are always one line two cell AC Internal Trigger programs with the carrier frequency and cell voltages set to the currently set AC idle frequency and amplitudes see Upload Download Set AC Idle below The edit controls will change depending on the selection of Operation Mode For AC operation a F Hz drop down control will be displayed with a corresponding Period ms above it For DC operation no frequency or period controls will appear but an additional column will be displayed This column may be used to control the polarity sign of DC program lines For DC operation the Line Trigger mode in the Trigger Mode drop down will be grayed out For AC operation the Line Trigger mode is accessible but the time intervals in the matrix are ignored for this mode A reminder about AC Line Trigger time intervals is displayed in red in LCDriver2 The size of the currently active program matrix is set by the Lines and Cells edit boxes The number of lines may be from 1 to 96 and the number of cells either 1 or 2 If additional lines are inserted into a program by incrementing the Lines control the time value
23. l be steady OFF e USB Series B receptacle for full speed USB 2 0 compatible connection to host computer Note that the controller s behavior depends on whether a host USB connection is present or absent e Ten position pushbutton switch selects currently running LC program when the controller is operating in standalone mode no USB connection The program number is incremented decremented by the buttons The pushbutton switch setting is ignored when the controller is running in host mode host USB connection present LCC 230 User s Manual www lce tec com 6 b Back Panel BD Trigger LC 12V 1 5A A O Input Output Power In e e BNC Trigger Input connector accepts triggers from external TTL compatible trigger source The controller is designed to be rising edge triggered If a function generator is used as a trigger source do not apply its analog output to this connector use the sync or logic output instead or set up the output for TTL e Mini DIN6 LC Output receptacle Supplies two LC voltage output connections along with two common COM connections The COM connections are tied to the ground plane of the controller s PCB The pin out for this connector is shown below The connector case is also tied to the ground plane of the controller PCB e 2 1mm 12VDC power jack accepts 2 1mm output power connector of supplied external 12VDC 1 5A international power supply
24. ll pre loaded programs just as if the controller was attached to USB while LCDriver2 is running When a controller is deselected it will remain in the NEW_HOST state executing the currently active program In a multi controller setup it is frequently desirable to replicate all of the programs from one master controller onto other copy controllers This may be accomplished in the following way 1 Connect the master controller to LCDriver2 and save all programs read from its EEPROM with the File Save All Programs To Files option 2 Disconnect the master controller from USB leaving LCDriver2 open 3 Power up and connect one of the copy controllers to USB LCDriver2 will then read all programs stored on this controller s EEPROM into its program memory 4 Overwrite these LCDriver2 programs with the master programs by selecting the File Load All Programs From Files option and selecting one file from the master sequence just saved 5 Select Upload Download Upload All Programs Into Controller to write the master LC programs now held by LCDriver2 into the copy controller s onboard EEPROM 6 Disconnect the copy controller with LCDriver2 still open Repeat steps 3 through 5 for any additional copy controllers in the setup The Utility Lock Row Voltage option may be used to set all cell voltages in a row of a program at once by editing a single cell s edit box The
25. n The LCC 230 is shipped with pre installed programs on its EEPROM useful for driving FOS series devices These programs may be read and modified by LCDriver2 LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 8 a New installs on Windows 7 amp Vista systems 1 2 un 7 8 Download and save the installation ZIP file to your computer using the URL provided by LC Tec In Windows Explorer right click on the downloaded ZIP file and select Extract All to unzip the file into an installation subdirectory Locate setup exe in the root of the installation subdirectory Double click on setup to start the install process Accept the default location of C Program Files x86 LCDriver2 for the LCDriver2 program for 32 bit Windows 7 amp Vista this location will be C Program Files LCDriver2 Accept the National Instruments license agreement The USB device drivers will be pre installed Installing Device Driver and a Windows Security prompt will appear as shown below Select Install to complete the device software pre install gt Windows Security gt Would you like to install this device software Name Optical Finesse LLC Publisher Optical Finesse LLC Always trust software from Optical Finesse LLC Don t Install 4 You should only install driver software from publishers you trust How can I decide which device software is safe to install At installation end a promp
26. ng the controller s AC power cord into a switched AC power strip whose switch is readily accessible by the operator A The voltages at the exposed pins of the mini DIN6 LC Output receptacle or the output terminations of a cable plugged into this receptacle pose a potential shock hazard and must be enclosed so as to prevent contact e The LC output cable should be jacketed with a 150 V minimum insulation rating e The mini DIN6 LC output cable length is recommended to be 5 ft 1 5 m To avoid conducted RF immunity problems under no circumstances should the LC cable harness be longer than 3 m e The interior of the controller is not designed to be user accessible and there are no user serviceable parts inside Contact LC Tec directly and return the controller if maintenance or calibration is required e Clean the exterior of the unit with a soft dry cloth only LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 4 3 Overview The LCC 230 is designed to output voltage waveforms tailored for use in liquid crystal LC drive applications There are two basic types of waveforms AC waveforms amplitude modulate a faster bipolar square wave carrier typically of frequency 1 kHz or slower DC waveforms suppress the carrier and apply just the slowly modulating envelope to the cells Because of hardware implementation it is required that both controller channels operate in the same mode AC waveform DC waveform For eithe
27. r AC or DC mode a fundamental LC driving requirement is DC balance which requires that the time integral of any given number of carrier periods always yield zero so that there is no residual DC offset applied to the cells DC balance means that an LC cell always responds to the root mean square RMS average of the drive voltage DC balance prevents slow ion migration to the indium tin oxide ITO electrode surfaces which can damage or destroy the cell For AC mode this requirement is met by applying amplitude modulation on a cycle count basis For DC mode DC balance is maintained by the controller automatically changing the sign of the envelope after every cycle The LCC 230 is designed to output voltages in the form of LC programs Each line of a program consists of one or two voltages and a time duration for which these voltages are held These voltages specify either the AC mode amplitude envelope or the DC mode bipolar voltage whose polarity will change after each program iteration The lines of the program can be advanced depending on chosen mode by an external trigger The controller accepts an external trigger from an outside source through a BNC receptacle located on the back panel The external trigger source can be any TTL compatible logic level source Triggers are generated by rising edges duty cycle does not matter The LCC 230 can run in either host or standalone mode In host mode the controller is connected by USB to a host
28. ries in the t ms column to enforce these constraints a Trigger Modes The programs have three input trigger modes called Internal Trigger Program Trigger and Line Trigger Only AC mode programs can be Line triggered For Internal Trigger execution starts at the first line and the lines are executed sequentially using the set duration in the time field Input trigger edges are ignored on the Trigger Input BNC connector At the last line of the program execution loops back to the first line and continues indefinitely Internal trigger behavior for AC and DC programs is the same except that for DC programs the polarity of the line voltages is toggled on every program iteration Program Trigger mode in the absence of any external trigger edges behaves just like Internal trigger However for Program trigger each new external trigger edge restarts the program at the first line AC programs can be re triggered during any program line For DC programs triggers occurring before the last line of the program are deferred until the last line is reached and each external trigger toggles the polarity of the line voltages Program trigger is typically used to sync the LCC 230 to an external periodic source e g projector For these applications the last line s duration should be padded by a couple ms to insure that the trigger edge will always fall within the last line Line Trigger mode is only meaningful for AC programs In Lin
29. t Cancel LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 10 12 The USB device driver software install will be completed and a balloon will appear onscreen informing you the install was successful 13 Start LCDriver2 from Window s Start menu Start gt All Programs gt LCDriver2 gt LCDriver2 The Dynamic Connection annunciator should appear in the application window s upper right hand corner c Updating LCDriver2 on an existing install 1 2 3 ZO If the previous version of LCDriver2 is running exit it Go to Windows Control Panel gt Add or Remove Programs Locate LCDriver2 in the list and click on the Remove button to uninstall Close Control Panel Download and save the installation ZIP file to your computer using the URL provided by LC Tec In Windows Explorer right click on the downloaded ZIP file and select Extract All to unzip the file into an installation subdirectory Locate setup exe in the root of the installation subdirectory Double click on setup to start the install process Accept the default location for the LCDriver2 program Accept the National Instruments license agreement At installation end a prompt may appear indicating that you must restart your computer to complete the install If so choose Restart now The USB device drivers do not need to be reinstalled for an update of LCDriver2 LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 11 d Errata As discussed in Sec
30. t may appear indicating that you must restart your computer to complete the install If so choose Restart now After computer restart plug the supplied USB cable into the controller s front panel USB receptacle and plug the other end into one of the host computer s USB ports Power up the controller using the back panel rocker switch The green Power LED should be ON The device driver software install will be completed and a balloon will appear onscreen informing you that the install was successful Start LCDriver2 from Window s Start menu Start gt All Programs gt LCDriver2 gt LCDriver2 The Dynamic Connection annunciator should appear in the application window s upper right hand corner LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 9 b New installs on Windows XP amp Windows 2000 systems 1 Download and save the installation ZIP file to your computer using the URL provided by LC Tec 2 In Windows Explorer right click on the downloaded ZIP file and select Extract All to unzip the file into an installation subdirectory 3 Locate setup exe in the root of the installation subdirectory Double click on setup to start the install process 4 Accept the default location of C Program Files LCDriver2 for the LCDriver2 program 5 Accept the National Instruments license agreement 6 At installation end a prompt may appear indicating that you must restart your computer to complete the install If so choose
31. the right Re selecting Show Monitor will close the Monitor window Note that LCDriver2 will always start up with the Show Monitor option turned off unchecked Clear Monitor will clear the monitor display of all previous messages This can be useful for capturing a stream of messages of particular interest This menu items performs the same action as the Clear Monitor button in the Monitor sub window New Log File permits an alternate log file to be Monitor Messages And Errors started The Monitor sub window contains four Monitor Command Response Traffic checkboxes The two Monitor checkboxes control A O de what is displayed in the Monitor sub window The two Log checkboxes control what is written to the current log file These checkbox settings are retained by LCDriver2 when the application is closed Checking the Log Command Response Traffic box permits the LCDriver2 LCC 230 controller protocol Log File message stream to be captured to a log file for later C Documents and Settingsierical inspection If either of these boxes are checked My Documents LCDriver2_Datal LCDriver2 will create a log file Hogs USB_COM LOG The default capture log file will be stored as LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 21 C Documents and Settings lt username gt My Documents LCDriver2 Data logs USB_COM LOG The log file will be overwritten every time LCDriver2 is run An alternate log file may be selected by
32. tions are commonly used together to optimize settings for LC panel based stereoscopic installations Note that the Utility Lock Row Voltage and Utility 50 mV step settings are not retained by LCDriver2 if the application is closed LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 25
33. uracy Better than 0 3 typical 0 5 maximum measured at full range Residual DC Less than 2 mV at any output Drive capability Each channel can drive cells up to 650 nF capacitance Short circuit Full recovery short circuit protection on both LC channels Front panel Fault LED will illuminate when channel is shorted LC programs Up to nine pre stored 96 line LC programs for standalone operation stored in onboard EEPROM Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory Front panel pushbutton switch selects executing standalone program INTERFACE Se Full speed 12 Mb s USB 2 0 compliant Software LCDriver2 application software with host USB drivers for Windows 7 Vista Windows XP and Windows 2000 executable only 64 bit Windows XP not supported Permits dynamic creation and editing of LC programs Separate dialog box for static LC channel amplitude control in AC mode Device drivers DLL toolkit for programming in LabVIEW Visual Basic or Visual C available upon special arrangement External Trigger Opto isolated Trigger Input rising edge triggered TTL compatible logic levels and fan in Optional trigger output capability upon special arrangement LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 2 ETE OVA Dimensions 5 3 in W x 5 3 in L x 2 0 in H eee eee Chassis material Black ABS plastic machined aluminum front amp back panels blue anodized and laser etched Front panel e Power Fault and Status LED s
34. will be initially set to 2 00 ms The voltage values of the new lines will initially be duplicates of the last line of the program If an additional cell is inserted into a program by incrementing the Cells control the new cell voltages will initially be set to 0 000V The Tab key may used to cycle through and edit the program matrix Cell voltages can be set to mV precision up to the Max voltage displayed above the edit control box For LCC 230 controllers the maximum settable voltage is 31 600V Permitted values in the t ms column depend on operating mode For AC programs the time duration must be an integral number of carrier periods as shown in the Period ms display For DC programs the time duration must be a minimum of 0 10 ms and is settable in 0 01 ms increments from this minimum value 0 10 0 11 0 12 0 13 LCDriver2 will validate and appropriately round user entries to validate and enforce these constraints b File Menu LCDriver 2 retains up to nine programs in its z P LC Driver 2 memory for the currently active controller on File Upload Download Utility About USB The options available from the File menu permit transferring programs to from save All Programs To Files Ctri 5 LCDriver2 s program memory and files stored ee SR on the host computer The LC programs are p A de stored in an ASCII text file format there are A AOS pre inserted comments in the file that explain Quit Ctrl Q t
35. x is closed with the Done button the controller is reset and placed back in dynamic mode NEW HOST and will resume executing the currently active program The Manual Voltage settings do not affect the currently active program in any way LCC 230 User s Manual www lc tec com 22 Open Terminal is for field diagnostics and troubleshooting This option allows LCDriver2 LCC 230 controller protocol messages to be sent directly to the LCC 230 and is intended only for field support in consultation with LC Tec Reset Controller can be used to reset the LCC 230 s onboard microcontroller without a power off on sequence Selecting it will open an explanatory message box If Continue is selected a RST message will be sent to the LCC 230 and then the controller placed back in dynamic mode NEW HOST Standalone Mode is the only way to access the special OLD_STANDALONE state discussed in Sec 6 b above Selecting it will display the explanatory message box shown below cautioning that once this state is entered the only way to exit it is a power off on sequence by deliberate design If Yes is chosen the LCC 230 is placed in the OLD_STANDALONE state and LCDriver2 s USB annunciator will change to read No Connection Place Controller into OLD_STANDALONE Mode This will Force the controller off the USB After performing this operation the only way to reconnect to the controller via the USB will be to power cycle
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