Automated Temperature Controller for ATE

Mary Grace P. Lat, BS ECE

I. OBJECTIVES:
To reduce the time it takes for an Outdoor Unit (ODU) to undergo tests for failure
analysis.
II. PROBLEM:
RMA Group is the team responsible for all the products that did not pass the
Quality Assurance, returned from the customers because of defects detection, or
requested to be repaired due to some failures or damage. They repair, troubleshoot
and rework the ODU to restore its functionality.
One of the processes involved in Failure Analysis is the Par Cal.
Parametric Calibration (Par Cal) of an Outdoor Unit (ODU) using Automatic Test
Equipment (ATE) comes in three stages with three different levels of temperature.
They test it under hot temperature (60C-67C), very cold (-24C--30C), and at
room temperature (30C-35C). This is done to test if the ODU will still manage to
function properly even under extreme temperatures.
Normally, the operator loads the ODU to be tested on the ATE, sets the program,
then chooses on the three levels of temperature (60 for hot, -25 for cold, 35 for
room), and starts the process. The ODU should reach the minimum temperature
required first before it can proceed automatically on the test. The time it takes for an
ODU to reach these temperatures ranges from 15 minutes to twenty minutes.
This span of time is somewhat long that it limits the number of ODUs that
can be tested on a prescribed period of time.
III. SOLUTION:
ODUs can tolerate a maximum temperature of 80C and minimum of -99C.
This tolerance will be of great help to make the turn-around time shorter than usual.
The researcher proposed to create an automated temperature controller for ATE.
Just like the concept of a rice cooker, as the ODU is being loaded, the temperature
will be set to the maximum/minimum of its tolerance, and when it reached the
required temperature for testing, the temperature will be set to the required
temperature. For example, under hot temperature, the ATE will be set to have a
temperature of 79C. And when the ODU reaches the required temperature which is
at least 60C, the system will automatically be restored to 60C and starts the test.
In this way, the time spent for waiting the ODU to be ready for test will be
reduced.