%0 Journal Article
%T LabVIEW 2010 Computer Vision Platform Based Virtual Instrument and Its Application for Pitting Corrosion Study
%A Rogelio Ramos
%A Roumen Zlatev
%A Benjamin Valdez
%A Margarita Stoytcheva
%A M¨®nica Carrillo
%A Juan-Francisco Garc¨ªa
%J Journal of Analytical Methods in Chemistry
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/193230
%X A virtual instrumentation (VI) system called VI localized corrosion image analyzer (LCIA) based on LabVIEW 2010 was developed allowing rapid automatic and subjective error-free determination of the pits number on large sized corroded specimens. The VI LCIA controls synchronously the digital microscope image taking and its analysis, finally resulting in a map file containing the coordinates of the detected probable pits containing zones on the investigated specimen. The pits area, traverse length, and density are also determined by the VI using binary large objects (blobs) analysis. The resulting map file can be used further by a scanning vibrating electrode technique (SVET) system for rapid (one pass) ¡°true/false¡± SVET check of the probable zones only passing through the pit¡¯s centers avoiding thus the entire specimen scan. A complete SVET scan over the already proved ¡°true¡± zones could determine the corrosion rate in any of the zones. 1. Introduction The increased application of self-constructed LabVIEW-based chemical virtual instruments (VIs) is due to their flexibility and ability to satisfy all the specific user requirements combined with the simplicity of the construction. Many configurations of LabVIEW-based VI have been reported until now corresponding to their specific chemical application defined by the user needs. Meng et al. [1] described a VI system based on LabVIEW 8.0 for ion analyzer which can measure and analyze ion concentrations in solution, comprising a high input impedance voltmeter (widely used in measuring the EM generated by ion selective electrode), a homemade conditioning circuit, data acquisition board, and a computer. It can calibrate automatically the slope, temperature, and positioning. When applied to determine the reaction rate constant by pX, it achieved live acquiring, real-time displaying, automatic processing of testing data, generating a report of results, and other functions. This method simplifies the experimental operation, avoids complicated procedures of manual data processing and personal error, and improves veracity and repeatability of the experiment results. Wang et al. [2] reported a LabVIEW-based chemical virtual instrument (VI) for temperatures and pressures measurement. By selecting hardware modules, such as the PCI-DAQ card or serial port method, and the software modules, different kinds of sensors can be used for creating different chemical instruments allowing extremely flexible solutions for automatic measurements in the physical chemistry research. Lenehan et al. [3] developed a LabVIEW-based
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jamc/2013/193230/