What is the batch aging test of CAN communication equipment?

Aging test is an essential part of product production. How to conduct efficient batch aging test for CAN communication equipment? This article will briefly describe the test method from the perspectives of cost and solution optimization.

1. What is aging test

Aging test is a test method that places the product in the actual use environment to evaluate its service life, stability and other indicators. For example, for plastic products, light aging, damp heat aging, and hot air aging are often used. For aging tests of electronic equipment, in addition to the above material aging tests, power-on tests are often required to test the stability of the product. Aging tests are usually performed in dedicated aging chambers.

Figure 1 Aging chamber

2. CAN communication equipment aging test

For the aging test of CAN communication equipment, it is mainly functional aging test. Taking the servo robot as an example, the aging test is that the external control unit continuously sends control instructions to make the machine work non-stop to evaluate the response status and reliability of the servo system. The external control unit mentioned here is often a test tool, including an industrial computer system and necessary mechanical structural parts.

Figure 2 CAN communication aging test

3. Batch testing solution

Time synchronization has always been a difficult point in CAN communication testing. If the CAN command sending time and sending cycle are determined by the industrial computer, there will be a time error of more than 5ms from the industrial computer to the CAN card and then to the device under test. How to solve this problem? The underlying timer of the CAN card can be used. The control commands are first sent in batches by the industrial computer to the CAN interface card and saved locally. The CAN card then sends them periodically according to the message sequence and the configured sending rules, so that the time accuracy can be guaranteed to be within 1ms. This function of USBCAN-8E-U can be directly called in the provided function library, as shown in Figure 3. (The time is 1ms, and the KVASER data is 100us)

Figure 3 Calling the underlying scheduled sending

Figure 4 Rich secondary development support

Offline transmission is an important means to reduce test costs. Generally speaking, aging tests are always carried out on a large scale and in batches, which means that an aging laboratory must be equipped with a sufficient number of industrial computers. USBCAN-8E-U can work independently with 8 CAN ports at the same time, and can work independently without a PC after configuration, thus greatly reducing computer expenses.

Figure 5 USBCAN-8E-U

4. Summary

ZHIYUAN Electronics' USBCAN-EU, USBCAN-2E-U, USBCAN-4E-U, and USBCAN-8E-U all support low-level precise timing. USBCAN-8E-U has up to 8 independent CAN communication interfaces, so it is particularly suitable for large-scale, distributed CAN device aging tests. Rich interface and function library resources can be quickly used for product development and testing. The isolation module insulation voltage is DC2500V, and the electrostatic level contact discharge reaches ±8KV, which greatly improves the working safety factor of the CAN interface card and ensures test safety.

Figure 6 High protection level