Simcenter Testing Solutions Time Data Selection: Saving a Segment
2021-08-26T01:07:08.000-0400
Simcenter Testlab
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Direct YouTube link: https://youtu.be/JWBTBbOA220
Time Data Selection: Saving a Segment
Want to save a segment of a time history file for further processing? It is easy in the Time Data Selection workbook of Simcenter Testlab.
The steps for saving a segment are outlined in this article:
1. Getting Started
2. View Time History
3. Highlight Segment
4. Save Segment
5. Setting Segment Beginning to Zero
The instructions start here!
1. Getting Started
The Time Data Selection feature of Simcenter Testlab is activated by selecting “Time Data Selection” under “Tools -> Add-ins” from the main menu (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Time Data Selection is activated under “Tools -> Add-ins”
A new workbook called “Time Data Selection” is added to the available workbooks at the bottom of the application as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: After activation of the add-in, the “Time Data Selection” appears as a new workbook.
The “Time Data Selection” worksheet does not require any tokens or additional license.
2. View Time History
If time data has been added to the input basket, clicking on the “Add” or “Replace” button will make it available for viewing as shown in Figure 3.
2. View Time History
If time data has been added to the input basket, clicking on the “Add” or “Replace” button will make it available for viewing as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Choose “Add” or “Replace” to make the data in the Input Basket available for viewing.
Selecting Add or Replace:
- Add: If time data had been previously selected for viewing, the “Add” button makes the new data available for processing in addition to the previous data.
- Replace: If the “Replace” button is used, any time data previously available is removed, and only the new data in the input basket is available.
Note: Time data is made available in the input basket by right clicking on it within the Simcenter Testlab navigation tree and choosing “Add to Input Basket”.
A list of measurement channels from the time history will be shown on the left side. Under the “View” column, click on the channel to be graphed as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Click a checkbox under the “View” column (left side) to graph the desired channel.
The time data is shown on the right side. The data is shown in an overview and a detailed (zoomed in) display.
3. Highlight Segment
The segment of the data to be cut and stored into a new file can be selected. This is done by clicking in the display and dragging the mouse as shown in Figure 5.
3. Highlight Segment
The segment of the data to be cut and stored into a new file can be selected. This is done by clicking in the display and dragging the mouse as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Two options are available for setting the segment – click and drag with mouse, or manually enter values.
The segment is shown in black. Only one segment, not multiple segments, can be defined at a time.
To reset the segment, hold down the control key and click once on the black area.
More about using the segment and detailed windows in this knowledge article: "Simcenter Testlab: Segments and Windows".
4. Save Segment
After dragging over the desired time range, the time range for processing can be locked as shown in Figure 6.
To reset the segment, hold down the control key and click once on the black area.
More about using the segment and detailed windows in this knowledge article: "Simcenter Testlab: Segments and Windows".
4. Save Segment
After dragging over the desired time range, the time range for processing can be locked as shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6: Click on the “Use Segment for Processing” button to lock in the segment duration.
It is a two-step process:
- Highlight the time history in the list on the right side.
- Press the “Use segment for processing” button
After pressing the button, the Processing Segment should reflect the highlighted segment.
Now the segment can be stored into a new file as shown in Figure 7.
Now the segment can be stored into a new file as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7: Choose the “Save As…” button in lower left corner, click on “Save Processing Segment only” and press OK.
Use the following steps:
- Click on the “Save As…” button in the lower left.
- Highlight the measurements to be saved (if there are multiple, be sure they are all highlighted)
- Click on “Save Processing segment only”
- Choose “Use new run name” and to give the segment to be saved a name
That is it! The segment is stored as a new run in the active Simcenter Testlab project file.
5. Setting Segment Beginning to Zero
After saving the segment, the time annotation reflects the the original time file. For example, the saved segment in Figure 8 starts at 6.23 seconds.
Figure 8: The saved segment starts at 6.23 seconds, not zero seconds.
Instead of using the original time stamp of 6.23 seconds it might be desired to set the starting time to zero seconds. This can be done with the SETXSTART function in the Time Signal Calculator.
To activate the function, turn on "Time Signal Calculator" under "Tools -> Add-ins" in Simcenter Testlab. The Time Signal Calculator uses 26 tokens and will be added in the lower left corner of the Time Data Selection worksheet as shown in Figure 9.
Figure 9: The Time Signal Calculator is added to the lower left corner of Time Data Selection workbook.
Add the SETXSTART in the formula field and enter parameters similar to as shown in Figure 10:
Figure 10: Using the SETXSTART formula, set the start value to "0". Setting the function1 to "CHx" and the "Repeat for" to "1:10" will do the first 10 channels of the time file. This can be adjusted as needed.
In the SETXSTART formula, enter the channel number as "CHx". Combining "CHx" with the "Repeat for" allows multiple channels to be set with zero as the start time.
Note that the "Id" field can be set to the same channel as the input, so the file is directly updated. This means the first number (1 in this case) in repeat for matches the Id (CH1 in this case).
Once the formula is in place, click on the "Calculate' button in the lower left. The screens data list so show that the segments start with zero seconds as shown in Figure 11:
Press the "Save" button when satisfied that the segments are set to zero. This will update the segment time history file.
More about using the Time Signal Calculator in this knowledge article: "Time Signal Calculator Tips!".
Hope this overview helps! Questions? Email peter.schaldenbrand@siemens.com or post a question.
Related Links:
5. Setting Segment Beginning to Zero
After saving the segment, the time annotation reflects the the original time file. For example, the saved segment in Figure 8 starts at 6.23 seconds.
Figure 8: The saved segment starts at 6.23 seconds, not zero seconds.
Instead of using the original time stamp of 6.23 seconds it might be desired to set the starting time to zero seconds. This can be done with the SETXSTART function in the Time Signal Calculator.
To activate the function, turn on "Time Signal Calculator" under "Tools -> Add-ins" in Simcenter Testlab. The Time Signal Calculator uses 26 tokens and will be added in the lower left corner of the Time Data Selection worksheet as shown in Figure 9.
Figure 9: The Time Signal Calculator is added to the lower left corner of Time Data Selection workbook.
Add the SETXSTART in the formula field and enter parameters similar to as shown in Figure 10:
Figure 10: Using the SETXSTART formula, set the start value to "0". Setting the function1 to "CHx" and the "Repeat for" to "1:10" will do the first 10 channels of the time file. This can be adjusted as needed.
In the SETXSTART formula, enter the channel number as "CHx". Combining "CHx" with the "Repeat for" allows multiple channels to be set with zero as the start time.
Note that the "Id" field can be set to the same channel as the input, so the file is directly updated. This means the first number (1 in this case) in repeat for matches the Id (CH1 in this case).
Once the formula is in place, click on the "Calculate' button in the lower left. The screens data list so show that the segments start with zero seconds as shown in Figure 11:
Figure 11: Press the "Calculate" button so set the segment beginnings to zero. Then press the "Save" button to store the results.
Press the "Save" button when satisfied that the segments are set to zero. This will update the segment time history file.
More about using the Time Signal Calculator in this knowledge article: "Time Signal Calculator Tips!".
Hope this overview helps! Questions? Email peter.schaldenbrand@siemens.com or post a question.
Related Links:
- Index of Simcenter Testing Knowledge Articles
- Simcenter Testlab Overview
- Getting Started with Simcenter Testlab
- Simcenter Testlab Active Picture
- Simcenter Testlab Active Picture Plug-in Download
- Simcenter Testlab: Import/Export to Excel
- Simcenter Testlab: Documentation Tab
- Simcenter Testlab: Templates
- Simcenter Testlab: Time Signal Calculator Tips
- Simcenter Testlab: Segments and Windows
- Simcenter Testlab: Calculating Statistics from Time Histories
- Simcenter Testlab: Appending Time Histories
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