Case study: Commercial Gas Boilers Automated Tests

Request

An international group planned to enter the commercial gas boiler market and selected Microplan, among key partners, to supply automated test systems for these appliances.

Approach

• Microplan shared its know-how with the customer from the system design and configuration, through manufacturing and training before completing a remote start-up.
• First, the engineering team at Microplan created logic diagrams to define all parts of the system along with interfaces to external units, such as synchronization with the assembly line.
• Afterward they developed a 3D model of the test bench which they shared with the customer for integration into their factory layout.
• After the customer defined their desired test sequence, Microplan's software development team implemented the sequence using their extensive experience with gas-fired appliances.
• Using Parseq, a powerful LabVIEW based software platform developed by Microplan, they tailored the program to quickly provide the desired results.
• Microplan's senior software engineers developed a protocol to communicate directly with the appliance control boards guaranteeing seamless integration within the test sequence and maximizing operators' efficiency during execution of tests.
• The test sequence, based on conditional paths and parameters, ensured the flexibility to test boilers with different capacities and features.
• Microplan's engineering team calculated the size of the testing system and performed simulations to guarantee the required measurement accuracy and repeatability with an extra margin of safety.
• To assure safe and flawless operation, Microplan's quality assurance team performed a FMEA analysis of the system.
• The customer's Quality and IT teams collaborated with Microplan engineers to identify data to log and save, define the format of the local database and set-up routines to automatically transfer test data to the customer's central server.
• Once the system was manufactured, Microplan's team executed tests using appliances supplied by the customer.
• Due to international travel restrictions, Microplan's engineers carried out a factory pre-acceptance remotely, sharing the screen of the test bench with the customer while Microplan technicians were receiving feedback and providing training to the customer's team.
• After the customer received and installed the system, Microplan's engineering team performed a remote inspection. Then they assisted the customer's team to commission the equipment using a remote connection.

Results

The Microplan test system allowed the customer to achieve the following:

• Simplify system operation with minimal operator intervention
• Virtually eliminate human errors
• Ensure satisfaction by through quality review
• Speed up time to market
• Improve efficiency
• Obtain accurate and repeatable measurements
• Record and save test results for complete traceability
• Maintain standardized software across the organization
• Maximize test speed with parallel tests
• Simplify test sequences using conditional paths
• Centralization of test results
• Assure long-term hardware and software support without impacting product development
  

Lessons

Partnering with Microplan allows customers to focus on their appliances design & development, specifying their requirements to Microplan's team of test bench experts. This team carries out all operations to design and manufacture customized automated test systems to exceed customer's expectations.