Thermotron Industries has designed a test system to find failures in circuit board assemblies for any type of appliance, quickly and cost effectively detecting failures. One test station can be customized to test a plethora of appliances such as washers, dryers, refrigerators, dishwashers, ovens, and more, making it a powerful and unique multi‐purpose test system. Simply by switching the custom‐made connecting cables and setting a test profile in the software, users can streamline testing. “We went from testing one sample set in 4‐6 days to testing the same sample size within an hour because we can now consolidate our testing routine,” raves a recent purchaser of the Appliance Test System.
Two models of the Appliance Test System are available, each unique in its testing environment and functionality. The Assembly Tester model is commonly used as a simple pass‐fail test system in assembly plant environments. One tester can be used in the production facility to spot failures in circuit boards from any type of appliance.
The Lab Tester model is stationed in test centers where it is used to test the cause of a warranty failure once it has been sent back from the field. This model includes a more powerful computer to aid test engineers in creating new test profiles and has the option for parametric testing in addition to functional testing. Since more tests can be completed in a shorter amount of time, an increasing number of failures can be reported to improve product reliability, directly reducing the amount of warranty failures in the future. The Appliance Test System has the option of integrating with a Thermotron environmental test chamber for more extensive testing as well.
Both models are controlled with a 19” monitor and embedded controller with pre‐programmed software to conform to any testing need. The Windows‐based user interface is easy to use and configure new tests. Unique to the appliance manufacturing industry is the ability to test circuit boards independently or simultaneously. Normally, a product’s entire circuit board assembly is required to simulate the product’s life‐cycle and find the cause of a warranty failure. With the Appliance Test System, the software can simulate operating conditions of the other circuit boards without needing the physical product on hand. This feature saves companies costs associated with shipping an entire assembly back to the testing labs when only one component is defective. The test station also boasts of over 30 output channels worth of DC/AC voltage and over 30 input channels of high, medium and low voltage monitoring points. A number of load boards test varying voltage and current conditions.
The completed tester is easy to integrate in a lab or assembly environment Thermotron Appliance Test Systems have already been sold to a world leader in home appliance manufacturing and shipped to multiple locations across the United States and Europe. Their test engineers have had nothing but positive comments about the test system. “Our old system was archaic compared to this tester. We can define and find more failures now because we have more flexibility in designing the tests.”