Connectivity

BronkhorstEmulator Block

Emulates a Bronkhorst instrument on a serial port. Connect external software like FlowDDE or FlowSuite to this virtual device.

Open BronkhorstEmulator in BlockWerk →

# BronkhorstEmulator Block

Description

BronkhorstEmulator is a bidirectional bridge block that presents a virtual Bronkhorst instrument on a physical serial port, speaking the PROPAR protocol. External software — FlowDDE, FlowSuite, or any PROPAR master — connects to the emulated device and can read flow and temperature registers or write a setpoint, exactly as it would with real hardware. Simulation signals drive the emulator's Measure and Temperature registers, and any setpoint written by the external master is forwarded back into the diagram as an output signal.

Use this block to close the loop between a BlockWerk simulation and Bronkhorst host software without needing a physical MFC on the bench. Typical applications include validating FlowDDE configurations, testing control recipes, and hardware-acceptance testing against a known reference simulation.

Parameters

nodeAddress

PROPAR node address that the emulator will respond to. Must match the address configured in the external master software. Default: 1.

Examples

Feed a simulated flow value to FlowDDE and read back the setpoint

FlowModel ──► [out] ──► BronkhorstEmulator → [Setpoint] ──► PIDController → [measured]
                           [Measure ◄── FlowModel output]
                           nodeAddress: 1

Emulate two independent instruments on the same bus

Sim_A ──► BronkhorstEmulator (nodeAddress: 1)
Sim_B ──► BronkhorstEmulator (nodeAddress: 2)

Both blocks must be connected to separate physical serial adapters.

Remarks

UI-only block: The emulator logic runs entirely in the browser via the Web Serial API. It has no WASM simulation counterpart; the uiOnly: true flag in block.json reflects this.
Requires Web Serial API: Only available in Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera). Firefox and Safari are not supported.
Input ports drive registers: Measure (left port) maps to PROPAR DDE register 8 / 205 (fMeasure). Temperature (left port) maps to register 142. Both are read by the PROPAR master at its configured poll rate.
Output port carries setpoint: Setpoint (right port) outputs whatever value the external master writes to PROPAR DDE 9 / 206. Use it as a reference signal in a closed-loop simulation.
HIL engine integration pending: Syncing simulation values to the slave registers at runtime is marked TODO in the source. The baud rate selector and connect/disconnect button are available in the block UI.
Baud rate: Selectable from the block face before connecting (38400, 115200, 460800). Must match the master software configuration.