Electrical Test Bench

Posted on Monday, March 28th, 2022

Client	Transport Canada
Professor(s)	Mauricio Ledon, Laura McHugh
Program	Electrical Engineering Technology
Students	Colin McKay (Team Lead) Arthur Chen Laila Doyon Lucas Sellars

Project Description:

Transport Canada has an important duty to assess and support vehicle and road safety in our communities by scrutinizing the automotive industry and ensuring that standards are met and upheld. To maintain these standards, the Defect Investigations and Recalls Division are tasked to test new and, more importantly, defective automotive parts.

Transport Canada’s Defect Investigations and Recalls Division’s main lab is located in Gatineau, Quebec where they are responsible for testing various automotive electrical components to detect and diagnose defects. This lab is where the Electrical Test Bench is going to be located. They also have six satellite offices across Canada. This test bench has all the equipment required for the Transport Canada Team to document faults and explain what takes place at an electrical level with great precision.

Transport Canada’s Defect Investigations and Recalls Division required a device that improved the diagnostics of electrical, automotive components. Our team’s solution was a user-friendly, all-in-one test unit. The electrical test bench provides visual charting of electrical functions with an easy-to-read display.

Tested components are secured with a v-slot rail system and clamps to the bench. The test bench also comes with an ESD (electrostatic discharge) desk mat to protect sensitive circuit components from static electric shock.

The enclosure allows for easy and safe electrical testing configurations. A computer connects to the testing unit via a USB interface to log data and generate reports. The computer screen serves as a display with a Joulescope/oscilloscope-like graphical output to troubleshoot electrical car parts more in-depth.

This project provides an indispensable tool for the Transport Canada Defect Investigations and Recalls Division team which allows them to test and troubleshoot electrical car parts in a controlled and safe manner. With this bench, they save time with a localized, compact area for diagnostic tools.

Short Description:

An electrical test bench for automotive parts is designed based on practicality, safety, and reliability to test and troubleshoot electrical components in order to improve transportation safety for TC’s Defect Investigations and Recalls Division.

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