AUTOMATION OF TEST JIG USING MICROCONTROLLER

Tehseen Siddiqui, Mitasha Desai, Sameer Narsapur

Goa Engineering College, Ponda

Goa University

stehseen64@gmail.com mitashadesai96@gmail.com

narsapursameer4@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Testing of a product in practical conditions is very necessary if the product has to remain long lasting and effective
to a client. A Test Jig is such a thing that can help us achieve the required goal of testing such products. Test Jig is
a manual set up which will enable us to carry out the testing procedure. The project is being done at Siemens,
Verna Goa. The products manufactured at the company contain separate units which perform different functions
which make up the whole product. Therefore it is very essential that all of the separate units work in order and are
in co-ordination. Therefore testing them is very essential. The company with the help of the Test Jig follows certain
well defined procedure to test the PCBs. The operations contain operations like applying voltage & frequency
signals and also checking the response obtained due to the application of these signals. In some cases digital data is
fed in to memory element and then the response is checked. All the operations which are carried out are manual and
therefore consume specific amount of time. The aim of our project is reducing the time taken to test the PCB and
hence increasing the rate of production of the product to some extent. The time taken to test the PCB manually
which is around 1 hr 45 minutes, and we are looking forward to reduce it to 1 hr.

INTRODUCTION them to their full potential. It can be said

For an industrial product to remain
long lasting it is very much necessary that
has been tested satisfactorily under practical
conditions. And for any industrial unit to be
profitable, it should be able to meet the
above condition with accuracy.
Siemens Verna, Goa is a health
sector industry, which is into manufacturing
of medical x-rays, x-ray mobile tables and
related associates. These products are highly
sophisticated and trained users to utilize
that these products are broken into smaller
modules, which when combined together
and work in co-ordination with each other
make the working model. Each of these
modules are so designed, such that they
perform only a specific task. For example
while considering an x-ray machine, there
are separate systems which will look after
production of x-rays, controlling its
intensity, etc. Therefore the smaller unit is
also as important as the system as a whole.
Considering its importance, it needs to be
tested at the lower level also.
PROJECT UNDERTAKEN
The testing of the PCBs is being
done with the aid of the Test Jig.
Figure (1)
Arrangement for the PCB to undergo the testing procedure
Referring to the above figure it can seen that
the PCB mounted is undergoing a test
procedure. It comprises of applying dc
voltage levels, frequency signals at various
test points and at different points on the
PCB. Digital data is also fed into the
microcontroller on the PCB. To observe the
result of the applied test signal there are
seven segment display and leds present on
the Jig along with the CRO and the DMM.
For communicating with the microcontroller
a software called PCTV is present on the
computer which enables us to send and
verify the digital the data.
For our project, we are, at present
working on a PCB known as, the Master
Card D915 which has to perform specific
functions inside the product, in which it is
installed.
Figure(1)
PCB
undergoing
the testing
procedure
To begin with the project we first
had to understand the working of the Jig. So
first a study of how the testing of the PCB is
being done was made. We ourselves also
tested it to get the feel of things. The
modifications could only be brought in only
after the study had been made. Apart from
knowing about the test points present on the
Jig, study was done on the connectors
present, their internal connections, in what
manner the test was carried out. There
different connecters present on it, each one
designed for its own purpose. The serial
communication connector was connected to
the computer using the COM port.
Some the tests mentioned in the
procedure are:
 Radiography Display.
 Fluoroscopy Display.
 DAC check for Kvsoll and mAsoll.
 mA soll testing.
In total there are 29 different tests that are
needed to be conducted on the PCB to
ensure its functioning.
MODIFICATIONS DONE ON THE
TEST JIG
A microcontroller was introduced to
eliminate the entering of data using the
keyboard, to compare the dc output levels
with the expected output. The main of this
being that, the time utilized to feed the data
and compare the output was removed. By
doing this less time would be required for
testing the PCB.
RADIOGRAPHY & FLUOROSCOPY
DISPLAY
It comprises of seven segment
display. The test comprising of them is
carried out such that, when the data is fed,
depending on the data, different patterns will
be displayed. In the modified circuit this was
removed and is replaced with a logic that
will give the same result.
Figure(4)
Radiography and Fluoroscopy display
Figure(5) Modified Radiography and Fluoroscopy display
The Jig also consists of switches which are
being replaced by analog switch ICs, for
faster switching operations. The input firing
signals will be sent using the
microcontroller. The output will again be
verified by the microcontroller. Also a LCD
panel is being used to display which, and the
result of the test to be conducted. At some
points wherein dc signal is to be applied it
will be done with the aid of microcontroller.
To support all the peripheral ICs,
LCD panel and a variable dc supply, a dc
supply is designed.
Figure(6) DC Supply Circuit
Figure(7) DC Supply for peripherals
Figure(8) DC Supply for microcontroller board
 feature, we will be able to address the
memory locations of the microcontroller and
send in the required data.

CONCLUSION

The main aim of the project is to

reduce the time taken to test the PCBs in the
Figure(9) DC Supply signal levels to be applied company. After the implementation of the
The microcontroller selected for this modified Test Jig the time utilized for
operation is Atmega-16. It has all the entering the data using a keyboard, applying
features that are the basic requirement for signals, putting on and off of the switches
this project. Some of them are the ADC and and a significant amount of time utilized in
the USART. The ADC will be helpful while observing the result and coming to the
testing the dc signals and comparing it with conclusion about the test would be
the required result. To make things simpler eliminated. A trained person at the company
we will be using a smart board which will would require around 1 hour 45 minutes to
easily enable us to program the perform the test. After the implementation
microcontroller using the programmer. of the modified Test Jig we estimate a
reduction of 45 minutes, which would bring
The microcontroller will be programmed down the bring down the time taken to test
using Code Vision AVR. Code Vision AVR by a healthy 45 minutes.
is a C cross-compiler, Integrated
Development Environment and Automatic REFERENCES
Program Generator designed for the Atmel
AVR family of microcontrollers. It has built
in libraries for:
 Input / Output Port initialization.  Nex-Robotics from the website
www.nex-robotics.com .
 Analog Comparator initialization.
 8051 microcontroller and Embedded
 ADC initialization. systems by Mazidi for programming
on C language.
 UART (USART) initialization and
interrupt driven buffered serial  For datasheets of different
communication components used
www.alldatasheets.com.
 LCD module initialization.
 Basic programming based
The software required to burn the “.hex” knowledge on atmega16
files on to the Atmega-16 is WinAVR. www.extremeelectronics.co.in.

USART will be used to

communicate with the PCB. Using this
 http:/www.embedautomation.com/co
ntent/tutorial-lcd-interfacing-
atmega16.