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www.us-tech.com
March, 2024
Using Spring-Probes and Contacts for Electrical Test of Wire Harness Assemblies
with the recent trends in the EV industry and for infotainment/automotive Ethernet appli- cations, the opposite seems to be the case. An electrical harness is an assembly
O
with wires, connectors, and other electrical and electronic parts. It is used for transmis- sion of signals and for power and high-cur- rent applications for electric vehicles. One thing all these assemblies have in common and that is that the parts need to be proper- ly tested before deployment and installation in the vehicle.
Various Tests In a continuity test, the operator checks
if there is electrical connection through the connector. The seating of the pins must be checked. Sometimes bent pins or malformed housings are detected. For this test, thread mount test probes are used. Some tests must have a switch-function, for those spring- probe with a built-in N/O or N/C SPST switch are used. Another test applies to the reten- tion-force of the pins. Special “pushback” probes with high spring-forces can be used. INGUN’s recommendation: Thread-mount probe series as well as SKS-switch probes.
ne would have thought that over the years, the number of electrical connec- tors in a vehicle would go down, but
By Matthias Zapatka, CIS, INGUN During a high voltage test, commonly
referred to as “hi pot” test the dielectric with- standing voltage between two pins is checked. This is done to ensure the insula- tion is good enough and the parts don’t arc when higher voltages are applied. For this
For at-speed tests, high-speed data or
high frequencies are used. This is to ensure that communication can be established, and that all data can be transferred without exceeding the manufacturer’s defined loss. For this test, the test probes are typically very complex as the parts need to work in the Gbit/s speed and GHz frequency range. Consequently, the parts are typically
higher priced compared to conventional test probes. For some designs individual compo- nents such as center conductors may be replaceable, which helps to keep the mainte- nance and replacement cost down. INGUN recommends its HFS probe series for RF sig- nal transmission for this kind of test. Typically, the test for EV connectors is
Wire harness test with step probe.
test, the test probes quite often need to be “encapsulated” with additional dielectric material. For coaxial connectors, special coax probes with added insulation material are used. INGUN offers its DPS series for these tests.
done on the module side, without any cables being present, but there are also applications where higher currents are used to test the cable harness connectors itself. For those, spe- cial high-current probe designs must be used. The challenge is that high spring forces are necessary for a good connection, so the cable connector needs to be clamped well in a test fixture. If the force is too low, the contact could “arc” and eventually “burn off” which would be a safety risk and may lead to damages on the probe and device-under-test. For high-current tests, INGUN offers its HSS probe series, as Continued on next page
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