Accelerating process time from wire harness design capture through to automated test routines
Webinar OnDemand - E³.series
Learn how to significantly reduce the time to generate and output validated design data for use in automated test programs resulting in improved project cycles, a reduction in manufacture errors and an increase in product quality.
Where’s the problem?
You design a cable or harness, which could be as complex or as simple as required. The harness could be many, many meters long, for example an aircraft harness could be in the order of 4000 meters .You are sure you’ve been careful in your design, met all the requirements in the specification and have passed it through various electronic design rule checks, both during the design dynamically, and as a post process. All is well and all passed. So you are confident your design has been designed correctly and proceed to pass the manufacturing data through to the shop floor or contractor to be manufactured.
Sometime later the finished harness is delivered.
QUESTION: How do you know that the harness has been made correctly to your design specification? How do you know that there are no short or open circuits?
ANSWER: You don’t with any real conviction.
Even if 99 times out of 100 your manufacturing or supplier produces a faultless product, there is still that risk that there could be a problem. So what do you do?
You could choose not test it, take a long time installing the harness into your product, and powering everything up. You may get lucky and everything works.
BUT
What happens if there is a big bang, and a very expensive piece of equipment goes up in smoke, melting some of your harness in the process?
- First of all, the equipment is a write off, and new product has to be sourced. The result is lost time to the project time and most of all lost profit in the project.
- Secondly, the harness will have to be removed, and a decision made to re-work the harness, or have another one made. Same result as above.
In both cases this will be a disaster. So you decide that the harness must be tested.
What do you test for, Continuity? Isolation? Volt drop? All of the above?
Even a simple harness with say a 12 pin connector at each end would take 144 isolation tests, and 12 continuity tests, and 12 volt drop tests for a fully populated connectors, allowing three minutes a test (average) without losing you place on the page, around nine hours! A full day just to test a simple harness.
There must be a better way
You must find something more efficient, such as automatic test equipment (ATE).
However, there are long programming procedures involved with this, and if a change is made the program has to written again.
Using a net list generated for the design tool you use will drastically reduce the programming times from weeks to hours.
Net result - confidence that your harness has been manufactured with no errors, fully tested and validated with paperwork and test data to be delivered with the harness for QA purposes.
There is an added bonus of being able to make an effective change in the minimum of time to the software test programme.
Reducing risk, saving time and most of all money!
View this webinar preview to find out more.
Who should attend?
- Engineers and Engineering Managers
- Project and Program Managers
- Designers and Design Managers
Webinar Presenters
Jason Evans, MK Test & Jeff Taylor-Jackson, Zuken.
Jeff Taylor-Jackson is an E³.series Specialist Application Engineer joining Zuken in 2008. Jeff started his career in the PetroChemical industry as a toolmaking apprentice and then moved into Electronics shortly after completing his apprenticeship, moving to Astrium in 1986. In 1993 Jeff took a position with British Aerospace Communications Ltd. as a Hardware Design Engineer and then in 1998 he returned to EADS Astrium as Senior Digital Design Engineer specializing in FPGA design. During this time Jeff studied Physics and Electronics part-time at Portsmouth University, graduating in 1990. While at Astrium, Jeff became responsible for the design of test and simulation equipment used in the manufacture of satellite payloads. In 1994 Jeff embarked on an Msc part-time degree at Bournemouth University studying Full Custom VSLI ASIC design, and graduated in 1997.
Also see other webinars, part of this series
NOTE:
You must register for a Zuken.com user account or login to download this file.