(a) Field
The subject matter disclosed generally relates to automated testing equipment for electrical equipment.
(b) Related Prior Art
Electrical tests and maintenance of electrical equipment are performed using portable handheld testers such as multi-meters and automated test equipment (ATE) such as wiring analyzers and other bench testers to perform validation of integrity or functional tests.
One of the main drivers for the type of equipment to use is the availability of interface cables to connect to the various connection points of the subject under test (SUT) on a timely basis with the nature of the test or maintenance to be performed. The limitations in the performance of existing handheld testers and ATEs are mostly related to the ability of a technician to use them efficiently to deliver or return to service the SUT. The handheld testers are generally very agile as they can be used on any connection point using generic probes on specific connections, but are limited in the scope of work that can be performed by a technician who is testing only a few test points at a time. The ATEs are more efficient for their ability to carry a series of test programs on a large number of test points, but they require a large number of customized interface cables to interconnect to the SUT.
The level of agility of existing testers is dependent upon the following factors:
Scope of Test/Maintenance:                Diversity of connector models used on equipment SUT;        Diversity of test procedures and signals required for the test of maintenance;        Number of interconnection points to be tested at the same time;        
Planning of Test/Maintenance:                Many weeks are generally available to plan the construction of interface cables and test programs for an activity of quality control testing of a production or recurring maintenance;        Maintenance of unexpected electrical failures requires immediate action to carry on all test procedures as soon as possible to return the SUT to service; time is of the essence and planning is inexistent to provide the technician with all the interface cables at the location of the SUT unless they were effectively built in advance and stored at this particular location;        
Financial considerations are always an important consideration to determine if the interface cables should be built in advance in anticipation of a maintenance/failure activity:                Engineering costs to create and to design an interface cable layout between the ATE and SUT;        Costs to build the interface cable;        Programming costs to integrate the interface cable into the ATE library of tests;        Programming costs to create the test program;        
Opportunity costs of the operator of the SUT to wait for the interface cable to be able to use the ATE to make urgent repairs. Considering all these factors, there is a need to have a flexible method to design, build and deploy to the location of the SUT all of the interface cables and the test program required for a technician to use an ATE to carry on the full scope of test/maintenance to return the SUT to service, and avoid costs associated with delays and erroneous troubleshooting due to limited test equipment availability.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds