Life Cycle Test Station

Manufacturer

Overview

Nexjen Systems, LLC was awarded a contract by a manufacturer to automate 60 product Life Cycle test cells for a new product development center. The goal of the test cells was to subject units to real life operating conditions and loads in order to assess product design reliability. A distributed control and data acquisition architecture based on National Instruments LabVIEW, LabVIEW Real Time and the EtherCat platform was chosen for the project.

Challenge

To test up to 20 products simultaneously simulating normal operating conditions. Each test cell must control the fuel, throttle, ignition and a water brake load. Additionally, each cell must measure several temperature points and engine RPM. The control system must execute a cycle profile created by the operator that defines a WOT period followed by an idle period. Each of the 20 test cells must support independent, deterministic parallel operation. In the case that 20 cells are running, the system will have to support 20 parallel PID loops to control individual product speed and load. All 20 cells are to be controlled by a single operator interface which would allow the user to manually control the cell, execute automated profile tests and store all data from the cell to independent files. Additionally, the control system had to manage room controls and safeties such as master fuel solenoids, CO monitors and fire monitors.

Solution

Nexjen Systems designed and implemented a life cycle test station with a tiered control and interface solution based on NI LabVIEW and LabVIEW real-time software components. The LabVIEW interface allowed for manual set-up and start-up of UUTs, execution of automated lifecycle profiles and monitoring of cell data. One intuitive user interface manages control of all 20 test cells. A custom LabVIEW RT software application, Industrial Controller and four EtherCat IO chassis provided deterministic control of cell test execution, closed loop PID control and real time monitoring of room/cell safeties. The application seamlessly performs manual or automated control of each station and has the capability of supporting 20 simultaneous life cycle tests which implement closed loop control over RPM and load using EtherCat and Scan Engine Technologies.

The 20 cells were distributed throughout a room and required over 150 control and DAQ channels. The layout of the room and the high channel count made this ideal for a distributed IO architecture. Four (4) EtherCat chassis were used within the room with each chassis controlling a bank of 5 products. Each chassis was mounted in a Nema enclosure. Channel IO was wired to intermediate terminal blocks and controls within the enclosure. With this architecture, field wiring from each test cell was distributed over short runs to each expansion chassis bank. A single EtherCat cable connected all the expansion chassis back to the Industrial Controller at the operator station located outside the test room.

Provided accelerated testing and evaluation for handheld, walk-behind, and ride-on products
Support new product development validation testing on the full vehicle, system and component level as a service to our internal stakeholder.
NI LabVIEW measurement and automation software along with hardware equipment will be implemented as our standard test management platform.
Provided client with accelerated testing and evaluation for their products and met an aggressive deadline which involved the official opening of the design center and press tour.