[FEASIBILITY STUDY]

Dormann
 The company is in need to perform electrical durability testing to determine the design

robustness and product life cycle. The published value of electrical durability life cycle is

100,000 operations. A test bench is in need to be designed to capture this data and perform

the testing that conforms to the norms of IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) as

well as UL (Underwriter Laboratories).

From the specifications list that was generated for the project, a set of critical

specifications were identified to be critical to the project. A ranking order matrix was used to

determine the potential challenge of the critical specifications that have been identified by the

company.

Min.
Design goals Cost Performance Maintenance Min. Parts Versatility Total
Type of Load 1 1 0.5 1 0.5 4
Data
acquisition 0.5 1 0.5 0.5 1 3.5
Efficiency 1 1 0 0.5 0 2.5
Cycling
options 0 1 0 0 1 2

The decision of the company for what would be the most critical specifications was

based on what would be the most critical components of the design. Based on these critical

specifications, the effort for choosing a solution has defined. While there are many

specifications that need to be addressed, the main points of the project can be boiled down to

the four that were addressed in the ranking order matrix.

TYPE OF LOAD

Because of the various types of load options, the choice came down to cost for the

company. They have decided that the resistive load bank is the most cost effective option to

implement. While the costs of resistors are far less than that of electronic loads, they do

present their own set of challenges. The first challenge is to determine what type of resistor

should be used for this project.

There are three types of resistors that can be used for this project:

 Smooth wound (round wire)

 Rib wound

 Grid Resistor

Each of these types of resistors has a given amperage range as well the span of

resistance that can be covered.

 1<I<3A Smooth wound

 1<I<4 Rib wound
 2<I<5 Rib wound
 4A Smooth wound
 5<I<8A Rib wound
 6<I<12A Grid Resistor
 8A Rib wound
 8<I<12A Grid Resistor
 10<I<15A Grid Resistor
 12<I<18A Grid Resistor
 15<I<20A Grid Resistor
 20<I<26A Grid Resistor
 25<I<33A Grid Resistor
The following is an overview of the resistance range and ampacity.

For the Smooth wound resistors the range of the product is as follows:
AC Load 750 W
83.3 < R < 250 Ohms

DC Load 72 W
8 < R < 24 Ohms

For the Rib wound resistors the range of the products is as follows:
AC Load 4000 W
15 < R < 50 Ohms

DC Load 384 W
1.5 < R < 4.8 Ohms

For the Grid resistors the range of the products is as follows:

AC Load 12500 W
12.5 < R < 5 Ohms

DC Load 384 W
0.48 < R < 1.2 Ohms

In order to minimize the number of resistors to be used and to maximize the test

capabilities,

3 different test benches have been defined:

- Bench #1: low current 1<I<6 Amps (NO current)
- Bench #2: medium current 10<I<16 Amps
- Bench #3: high current 20<I<50 Amps
The next couple of challenges with resistors were that of safety and practicality. Using

slider taps to change the resistors value is unsafe, time consuming and a costly overrating of

the resistors (the more of the resistor that is partially used, the higher its linear heat dissipation

power has to be).

To address the challenge of versatility and flexibility for the potential to be able to

expand the capabilities in the future, the issue of maximization of productivity while reducing

costs and space requirements.

To use the least amount of resistors as possible and to maximize the covered resistance

spectrum, (able to comply with all the different rated currents and making possible further

adds-on), it has been decided to use resistors that are adapted for these current levels both in

AC and DC:

- Bench #1: NC: 0.5, 1, 1.5 Amps; NO: 1, 2, 3 Amps

- Bench #2: NC: 0.5, 1, 1.5, 5 Amps; NO: 1, 2, 3, 10 Amps
- Bench #3: 5, 10, 15, 20 Amps

The final challenge with the resistors will be that of heat dissipation. Thermal

Simulations will have to been performed to assess the direction of the heat flows and the

maximum/average temperature in the enclosure depending on different parameters such

as the size of the enclosure, the resistors arrangement and the cooling power. Indeed

power supply and dissipation is an important issue considering that relays contacts are

rated until 50A at 250V, producing a very large amount of heat.

DATA ACQUISITION

For the data acquisition, there will be several topics that will need to be addressed:

 Test until death or a preset value

 2 tests/cycle are performed:
During on: NO closed & NC open
During off: NO open & NC closed
 Not sensitive to rebounds (rebounds are the bounce of the contact blade which can
occur if the travel gap is not enough between the open and close contacts)
 5 contacts closures missed tolerated if next one positive
 2.5s cycle: maximum operating speed

PC and PLC must be able to communicate through the Ethernet network of the

company. Software will need to know the type of PLC used the type of network and the

device’s IP address to decide of the communication initiation sentence and of the data

accessible. There will be a need for software that will also be able to be used supervision.

This will be the software that will be able to allow for HMI. Another type of software that will

be required is one that will allow for the compilation of data and be used for reporting.

Finally there will be a need for software to program the tests that will be performed. It

will need to have a counter function, a watchdog timer, memory slots and buffers. Software

gives the possibility to refer to these memories with an alias, that will be used in the

supervision, with a more explicit and user-friendly way. Each device has it is own table.
EFFICIENCY

A complete supervision solution has to been setup, allowing for controlling and

monitoring of all the tests on the local network. Moreover, results must be available in an

Excel file with a friendly lay out. The Ethernet supervision will give capability to control the

PLCs with basic commands Start/Pause/Stop/Reset/Restart, as well as getting a real time

count of the number of contacts operated so far. Furthermore, the supervision gives

opportunity to export data to an excel spreadsheet

A PLC will enable all the expected features; cycling, counting, 1 to 4 poles relay

testing as well as switching off the coils addresses when the relays are no longer operating

properly.

Single-bench capability should be at least 3 relays on test at the time. Objective is to

reach capability to test about 15 relays on the entire test-bench. Furthermore, most of the test

should be performed for relays with NO rating between 10 and 15 Amps in alternative

currents because it is the most current usage of these products.

Trying to decrease global power supply and consequent dissipation, relays will be

fired on one by one. It also supplies the opportunity to use the same resistors for different

relays.

Capability for running tests either with IEC or UL508 is a must.

CYCLING OPTIONS

Because the cycling of the bench must meet the standards for both IEC and UL with

IEC 947 (European) and UL 508 (North American) standards instructions, the bench must be

able to have a speed selection. This is because each type of test requires different cycling rates

so depending on which type of test needs to be performed, the capability must be provided.

Testing is to be performed on every contacts according to IEC and only on one (NO or

NC) according to UL 508. Five (5) closing or opening misses can be tolerated if not

consecutives and solved without exterior assistance.1 Minimal real closing and opening time,

as well as answer time limits are manufacturer’s choices.

Electric endurance tests will be performed at maximal working frequency, 1200

operations/hour according to datasheet. In different words, cycle length is set to 3s, with 0.5s

contact closed and current flowing (0.25s for UL) and 2.5s NC current closed 2.5s (2.75 for

UL) with current flowing 0.5s (0.25s). See chronology (figure 1) below.

Figure 1: Chronology for relay coil and switching component state2

REFERNCES

1. IEC 60947-5-1 COMPIL, CEI 60947-5-1 COMPIL of 2009-07-01

2. IEC 61810-1 © IEC: 2008(E)