Automotive Automotive industry quality requirements: testing as a key factor
Among the most relevant technological challenges within autonomous driving, connectivity and electric mobility, all will have aspects that will have an exponential growth of artificial intelligence in the car of the future and will be increasingly able to provide services not strictly related to transport, but dedicated to infotainment and networking capabilities. These services range from the multimedia management of the smartphone and the navigation system to the usability of information related to tourism, traffic, entertainment, shopping and emergency. Naturally, the car manufacturers will also enhance the hazard warnings, as well as the focus on interior car safety. Paolo Bertholdo, Seica Automotive Group explains
T
The quality of the implemented solutions
o achieve the result, the automotive component manufacturers must resort to all of the best solutions available on the market, from the best chip suppliers all the way up to the best manufacturing strategy. The decisions concerning test are clearly an important part of this last consideration. It is essential for companies to locate the most suitable and qualified partners to implement the solutions keeping up with the consumer world, especially when talking about automated test equipment. Compared to other sectors, the test
process in the automotive industry consists of a set of test solutions which are very articulated within the production line. Great attention is placed on the organisation of the test sequence, with the goal of achieving 0ppm (0 faulty parts per million of products). When the assembly process of the
electronic circuits is completed, the first test stage is in-circuit test. This step may also include the task of programming the micro-controller as well as the related device-embedded memories to guarantee
the availability of the proper code. In many cases, these two operations are integrated into the same system, if the time-cycle of the line allows it, with the aim of reducing the number of required tasks.
The next stage is the functional testing of the product before it is completely assembled with all of its parts, including the mechanical ones. Here, the aim is to assess the compliance of the product itself to the defined operational specifications. However, the advantage of carrying out this type of test at this point is the optimised accessibility to the circuit under examination, allowing better diagnosis of the known critical conditions. Once it is completely assembled, the
product is subjected to an additional test before it’s sent to the customer for installation in the vehicle. This station, commonly defined as end-of-line, aims to assess the product in its final configuration, with normal access via its external connectors, which partially limits the diagnostic options. This stage normally requires the integration of additional, specific instrumentation, able to appropriately simulate the sources external to the product. The use of resistive loads or
GPS simulators are common examples of specific instrumentation. Finally the product is inserted into another test station, where it is subjected to a prolonged stress cycle in the real operating conditions of the device. This way it is possible to diagnose possible endemic problems or those categorised as “infant mortality”, that is, those which occur when the product is first subjected to real component strain. Given the typically long cycle times of this type of test, this may be applied on a “sample” basis, rather than the total number of devices manufactured. What makes the situation even more complex is the need to manage multiple variants of the same product, not only for different models of vehicle, but also based on the final market where the product is sold, in addition to the not less important requirement of complete traceability of all the stages of the process to enable fast intervention in the event of critical situations (for example, a recall campaign). In order to reach the required 0ppm target it is necessary not only to address defects related to the assembly process implementing the aforementioned solutions, but also to reduce to a minimum the chance of human error by the operators working in the line. These so- called fool-proof solutions start, for example, by limiting the opportunity to insert the product on the wrong fixture (through appropriate mechanical constraints), then ensure the activation of the correct test program (based on barcode readers) sometimes arriving at the complete automation of the process using in-line systems.
Along with maximum performance, the tester should also be engineered to optimise system ergonomics with respect to operator comfort and the precepts of lean production, with the flexibility to allow the introduction of new solutions to better meet the requirements of the industry customers. Not less important is the necessity to guarantee high test
38 November 2018 Components in Electronics
throughput to comply with the increasingly stringent production cycle-times. SEICA has consolidated experience in testing automotive electronics, including the following areas: body controllers, instrument clusters, infotainment and telematics systems and lighting controllers. Based on a unique hardware and
software platform common to all its products, Seica’s product portfolio covers all of the test levels required in a standard production line, from the simple in-circuit to the most complex end-of-line functional test. This architecture optimises return on investment, ensuring that systems are readily interchangeable and training is optimised across different test steps, reducing to a minimum the need for specific operator know-how.
All completed by the integration of the basic technologies in automotive electronics, such as for example the management of the most common communication protocols ranging from a standard CAN to the LIN and k-line serial interfaces. The Seica COMPACT product line includes a full range of solutions, from entry-level systems (Compact TK) even with enhanced digital capabilities or combinational testers with full integration of external instruments (Compact Multi). These systems are available in several different configurations including the fully automated, in-line version, (Compact SL) and independent, multi- fixture versions. Seica’s PILOT Next> series line of flying probers complete the range of test solutions.
Industrial monitoring Industrial monitoring means the collection of any information generated by the production systems; the monitoring of production lines is aimed to control, for example, the energy consumption of machinery to foresee in advance possible failures or abnormal operation, improving the management of maintenance in the production line itself, in order to optimise interventions
www.cieonline.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
