System and method for programmable automatic testing of power supplied
First Claim
1. A system for programmable automatic testing of a plurality of power supply units comprising:
- a computer that hosts application software and a user interface (UI) for programmable automatic testing of the plurality of power supply units, having a plurality of communication links connecting to a plurality of devices;
a plurality of automatic test controllers (ATCs) with each one receiving test commands and parameter limits from the computer via a communication link, wherein the plurality of ATCs providing power and supplying a programmable test load, each ATC for connecting to and testing a power supply unit under test (UUT) from the plurality of power supply units;
a programmable power source providing a programmable source of power to the plurality of ATCs;
a sync box that provides communication between the programmable power source and all connected plurality of ATCs via communication links such that all connected plurality of ATCs can share the same programmable power source for UUT testing;
the plurality of ATCs receiving via the communication links a synchronization signal from the sync box so the programmable power source is applied to all ATC connected UUTs at the right instance;
the ATCs each controlling an internal electronic load module to apply the programmable test load consisting of a load type and level to the connected UUT for testing, controlling various internal measurement modules to measure requested power supply parameters of the UUT according to the test commands, determining the passing or failing of the UUT according to the test data and parameter limits, and sending the Pass/Fail information to the computer for display and storage.
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Abstract
A cost-effective system architecture and apparatus for programmable automatic power supply testing. The system utilizes board level interface between various system testing modules and an Automatic Test Controller (ATC). The ATC receives coded test requests from the software on an industrial PC and control the various testing modules inside ATC to execute the tests. Test results were sent back to the PC and saved in a result file. A single industrial PC can control two or more ATC'"'"'s and test two or more power supply units simultaneously. The ATC based test system is lower cost than the conventional Automatic Test Equipment which uses device level interface and standardized test devices.
19 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A system for programmable automatic testing of a plurality of power supply units comprising:
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a computer that hosts application software and a user interface (UI) for programmable automatic testing of the plurality of power supply units, having a plurality of communication links connecting to a plurality of devices; a plurality of automatic test controllers (ATCs) with each one receiving test commands and parameter limits from the computer via a communication link, wherein the plurality of ATCs providing power and supplying a programmable test load, each ATC for connecting to and testing a power supply unit under test (UUT) from the plurality of power supply units; a programmable power source providing a programmable source of power to the plurality of ATCs; a sync box that provides communication between the programmable power source and all connected plurality of ATCs via communication links such that all connected plurality of ATCs can share the same programmable power source for UUT testing; the plurality of ATCs receiving via the communication links a synchronization signal from the sync box so the programmable power source is applied to all ATC connected UUTs at the right instance; the ATCs each controlling an internal electronic load module to apply the programmable test load consisting of a load type and level to the connected UUT for testing, controlling various internal measurement modules to measure requested power supply parameters of the UUT according to the test commands, determining the passing or failing of the UUT according to the test data and parameter limits, and sending the Pass/Fail information to the computer for display and storage. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. An automatic test controller (ATC) apparatus for programmable automatic testing of a power supply unit under test (UUT) wherein the ATC comprises:
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a processor as the main control device for the automatic test controller; a power analyzer module that is connected to the processor, wherein the power analyzer module measures the input voltage, current, real and apparent power, total harmonic distortion (THD) and power factor at the input of the UUT; an electronic load module that is connected to the output of the UUT, with the electronic load linked to the processor via pulse width modulation (PWM) channels and general purpose input/output (GPIO) pins, wherein the desired voltage or current for the power supply testing is set by the pulse width on the PWM channels, and the load type is set by the GPIO pins; a multi-channel direct current (DC) measurement module that is used to measure the output parameters of the UUT, having at least two channels measuring the output voltage and current, two other channels measuring the output from a ripple/noise measurement module, and communicating the measurement results to the processor via a board level synchronous peripheral interface (SPI) port connection; the ripple/noise measurement module wherein the input is connected to the output of the power supply UUT, and the outputs of the ripple/noise measurement module comprising two or more channels are connected to the multi-channel DC measurement module; an isolated communication link between the processor on the ATC and the computer, wherein the ATC both receives coded test information/command and transmit test results via this isolated communication link; an isolated communication link between the processor on the ATC and a Sync Box, wherein the programmable power source setting request is sent from the ATC to the Sync Box; a solid state relay that is connected between the programmable power source output and the power analyzer module in the ATC, wherein the solid state relay can be controlled to turn on either at the zero crossing or at the peak of the AC voltage waveform, and the solid state relay is controlled by the processor via a GPIO pin; an inrush current measurement module that catches the peak input current to the UUT, wherein the output of the inrush measurement module is fed to an ADC pin on the processor. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for using an automatic test controller (ATC) apparatus for programmable automatic testing of a power supply unit under test (UUT), comprising:
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providing an automatic test controller (ATC) which has a main processor and a plurality of internal modules to perform the testing of a power supply unit under test (UUT) connected to the ATC; using board level communication links within the ATC to communicate between the main processor and the various modules; using a computer with user interface to pass test commands to the ATC and receive test results from the ATC via a communication link; using a programmable power source to provide power to the UUT under ATC control; using a Sync Box, wherein the programmable power source setting request is sent from the ATC to the Sync Box; using a solid state relay to control the precise instance when the power is applied to the input of the UUT; using a power analyzer module to measure input voltage, current, real power, apparent power, power factor, total harmonic distortion (THD); using an electronic load module to provide different load types and levels to the output of the UUT, wherein the desired voltage or current for the power supply testing is set by the pulse width on the PWM channels; measuring the output voltage and current of the UUT using a multi-channel direct current (DC) measurement module having at least two channels measuring the output voltage and current, two other channels measuring the output from a ripple/noise measurement module; wherein the outputs of the ripple/noise measurement module comprising two or more channels are connected to the multi-channel DC measurement module; measuring the peak input current to the UUT using an inrush current measurement module. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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11. A method for programmable automatic testing of a plurality of power supply units, comprising:
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providing computer user interface for users to generate test sequence files by selecting at least one test set and specifying parameters and their corresponding limits for each test set; using a plurality of automatic test controllers (ATCs) with each one receiving test commands and parameter limits from the computer via a communication link, wherein the plurality of ATCs providing power and supplying a programmable test load, each ATC for connecting to and testing a power supply unit under test (UUT) from the plurality of power supply units; providing a protocol for the communications between the computer and the plurality of ATCs such that the test sets are processed one by one, until the complete sequence has been processed; providing a programmable power source providing a programmable source of power to the plurality of ATCs; providing a sync box that provides communication between the programmable power source and all connected plurality of ATCs via communication links such that all connected plurality of ATCs can share the same programmable power source for UUT testing; receiving by the ATCs via the communication links a synchronization signal from the sync box so the programmable power source is applied to all ATC connected UUTs at the right instance; controlling by each ATC an internal electronic load module to apply the programmable test load consisting of a load type and level to the connected UUT for testing, controlling various internal measurement modules to measure requested power supply parameters of the UUT according to the test commands, determining the passing or failing of the UUT according to the test data and parameter limits, and sending the Pass/Fail information to the computer for display and storage. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification