Withstanding Voltage Test
Overview
Withstanding Voltage Test. A glass manufacturer needed to determine the withstanding voltage of their product. Withstanding voltage testing is done with a high voltage source and voltage and current meters. It applies the necessary voltages to a device and monitors leakage current. If the leakage current is over a defined threshold the test fails. They had an existing Kikusui T0S9201withstanding voltage tester that they were using to perform the test manually. The customer wanted software that could automate the test and save the acquired data for quality control. Automating the process would make the test much faster, reduce operator error, and acquire data used for quality control and design feedback.
Solution
We developed custom software to communicate with the Kikusui T0S9201 via RS232. RS232 is a serial communication protocol used to transmit data. The withstanding voltage tester had an existing RS232 port and had the ability send and receive data from a computer.
Kikusui T0S9201 Voltage withstanding tester
Features
We developed the custom software in LabVIEW. LabVIEW is a graphical programming language for scientists and engineers that can connect to almost any hardware. The software we developed had the ability to perform a ramp test and a withstanding voltage test. More tests could be added to the software in the future if needed. The software would plot voltage with respect to current. The test would end if the software read a pass or fail message from the tester.
User Interface
The user interface was intuitive and easy to use. Performing the test the operator had to enter test parameters and click the start button. The software would automatically perform the test. When the pass or fail message from the tester was received the test would stop and result would be displayed. The operator could then save the result of the test to file. A graph was available to the operator that plotted voltage with respect to current. This allowed the operator to quickly view the result of the test and view the performance in real time.
Data File
The data was saved in a comma separated value (csv) format. CSV files are human readable and can be opened with most analysis software i.e. Excel or MATLAB. The test parameters and results are in the first row. More parameters can be added without changing the layout of the file. Test data was saved bellow the first row. The screenshot shows the data viewed in Excel.
Result
The withstanding voltage test allowed for automatic operation of the test. Previously the test was done manually by an operator operating the tester. Test times were slow and training an operator on how to use the equipment was time consuming and expensive. Data from the test was not available to the design engineers.
As a result of AST developing the withstanding voltage test, test time was improved by a factor of 10. Operator training on the software was minimal. Simple software design lowered the cost of performing the test because the training time was lower, the test was faster to run, and the results were more reliable. Data from the test was easily shared with the design engineers so they could improve the product design.
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