The EOL consists of the following items, at minimum:

National instruments cards (common on most of the EOL testers):

PCI 6251 – this is data acquisition card and includes 16 Analog Inputs, 2 Analog Outputs, 24 IOs
(5V), 2 32bit counters. The inputs and outputs are not typically used on the EOLs. Maximum
analog the card can read and generate is 10.0V. This card is used to read for instance:

 Force
 Switch Voltage (to determine switching transition)
 Free Length (to determine the distance between force probe and the button in subject).
This offset is important to calculate all distance related parameters relative to the
button.
 Motor position – the actual position of the motor and hence the probe assuming that
there is no backlash or slippage between the motor and slide per se.
 Illumination current – to determine correct LED binning (this is an extra check, as there
is the camera that checks graphically the symbols of the buttons, the intensity and the
colour to name a few).

This is not an exhaustive list.

For more info: http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/14124

PCI 6528 – 24 Inputs and 24 Outputs card, outputs can sink and source. Usually inputs are
hardware configured as sinking (output from a pnp signal), and output as sourcing (pnp
equivalent).

This card is used to communicate with the PLC, and other items such as:

 Issue of Ready signal notifying the PLC that the test is ready to test
 Issue of reject codes notifying the PLC whether the switch is In order or Not
 It will also read the motor status to ensure positioning of XYZ and linear is safe

This is not an exhaustive list.

For more info: http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/13581

An 8 port RS 232 serial module (http://www.moxa.com/doc/specs/CP-118U_138U.pdf) – this is used as

an interface between the computer, motors and barcode scanners.
Motors

Motors (SM161AE -
http://divapps.parker.com/divapps/emn/pdf/RotaryMotors/SM_Family/SM_SeriesMotor_Brochure.pdf)

Drivers:

2 XY – VIX500IE [left and right] http://www.parkermotion.com/manuals/Digiplan/ViX-IE_UG_7-

03.pdf

2 Z and linear - GV6L3

http://www.parkermotion.com/manuals/gemini/GemGV6ig_entire_guide.pdf

The XY are daisy chained that is one end of a driver (VIX500IE) is connected to the computer, and this
driver is connected to the other driver via a RS485 cable. So in all we have 5 comports, namely 2 Z (left
and right systems), 2 XY (left and right systems), and 1 linear (right).

Note also that the drivers are also fed with limit sensors, effectively three sensors, Limit+, Limit- and
Home sensors. The Limit sensors act as soft limit so the motor will stop if any of these limits are hit
depending on the direction on the movement. Limit+ is forward checked and Limit- is reversed checked.
Home sensor is home indication sensor, when this is activated during a homing sequence (such as
following a reset on emergency situation), the motor will reset its position to zero. All absolute positions
will be referred to this position. It is crucial that the home sensor is left intact and never adjusted
mechanically, otherwise one would need to reassign all XYZ and linear position from scratch, which will
not only take a lot of time, but could prove problematic.
Addresses and configuration:

Left:

Component Address
DAQ Dev3
IO Dev1
XY Driver Com2
Z Driver Com3
Switch Barcode reader Com7
Packaging Barcode reader Com9

Right:

Component Address
DAQ Dev4
IO Dev2
XY Driver Com1
Z Driver Com5
Linear Driver Com6
Switch Barcode reader Com8
Packaging Barcode reader Com10

Camera IP Address 192.168.0.10:23

Hyper terminal software can be used to communication with serial driven items, such as motor drivers
and barcodes. National Instruments Measurement and Automation software can be used to verify the
addresses, and what National Instruments cards are installed on the system. This software can also be
used to read analog, generate voltages, toggle digital outputs, read encoder position and read digital
inputs to name a few. Note that the outputs on the PCI 6528 are active low; that is the signal has to be
low in order for the output to be ON. This means that it will feed 24V on the designated output. Be
careful when toggling such outputs .

Circuits:

The main pcb (main_pcb.pdf) is used to read the switch signal voltage (REM, Dist and ECU signals), the
Switch Illumination Current, the 13.5V, and 5V. This board consists of:

 INA128 an instrumentation amplifier - http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/ina128.pdf

 Omron double throw relay – this is used to isolate the 13.5V on the contact pins -
http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/307/G6A_0911-4215.pdf
 LM317 – adjustable regulator to generate the +5V for the switch -
http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm317.pdf
 The board also feeds the status of the 13.5V (scaled 0.5), 5V to the DAQ
From each testing contact pin, two wires are fed to this board, one is fed to H2 and the other is H3.
Wires to H3 are pulled up to a resistor of 4.7k ohm for REM (left) and 560 ohm for Dist and ECU (right),
and wires fed to H2 are input to Instrumentation amplifier and ultimately fed to the DAQ. Internally the
switch consists of a resistor ladder diagram. Refer to below block diagram for clarification:

Encoder Board (Dual Encoder Board.pdf)

The differential encoder signals (A, A bar, B and B) coming from the Z and linear motors drivers are
each fed to a signal conditioning board which will provde TTL A and B to the DAQ. During acquisition the
program reads the encoder position and thereby determine distance related parameters, such as Da
(Peak Force position), Da2 (trough force position), Free travel (distance between the motor and motor),
Switching points amongst others. Free travel mismatch is also used to filter sticking switches.

Comparator Board (Comparator.pdf)

This basically compares the force versus a reference sensor from the NI Card DAC. The output of the
comparator is fed to the motor driver input. The test seqeunce stops by force (when the force read by
the force sensor exceeds a reference value).

Testing sequence is divided into two, namely:

1) Approach movement – probe is positioned at a proximity distance from the button under
test
2) Test Sequence – this is the main testing sequence. Note that the test is completed when a
the set force is reached.
Force Sensors:

The force sensor used to measure the toggle and rocker forces is the Futek LSM300
(http://www.futek.com/files/pdf/Product%20Drawings/lsm300.pdf). This comes coupled with a
matched and calibrated amplifed (CSG110 -
https://www.futek.com/files/pdf/Product%20Drawings/csg110.pdf, now IAA100 -
https://www.futek.com/files/pdf/Product%20Drawings/IAA100.pdf). It is very important that the force
sensor and amplifier are match. It is highly recommended that a set is left as spare, as most of the
machines utilize such force measurement.

The force sensor can read up to 22.4N, and the amplifier will output 10.0V equivalent to 22.4N (full
scale).
DAQs channels analog inputs and outputs assignment

Analog Channel Left Right

ai0 Toggle Force channel (1V = 2.24) Toggle Force channel
ai1 Rem voltage (x1) ECU voltage
ai2 Illumination current Dist voltage
ai3 Illumantion voltage (6.75V) Illumation current
ai4 Switch voltage Illumation voltage
ai5 Rem voltage amplified Switch voltage
ai6 Linear Force channel
ai7 ECU voltage amplified
ai8 Dist voltage amplified
ai9
ai10
ai11
ai12
ai13
ai14
ai15
ao0 Left Force Reference Right Force Reference
ao1 Linear force reference (set-) Linear force reference (res+)

Note that the 1V is equivalent to 2.24N. The switch voltage is 5V, and illumination voltage is 6.75V
(scale of 0.5 of 13.5V). Where ai is the analog channel, the 6251 has 16 analog inputs, and ao is the
analog output. The analog inputs are used to acquire voltages, such as force measurement, and switch
voltage. The analog ouput are used to generate a voltage. This is typically used to generate a reference
force which is fed to a comparator which compares this reference to the actual force read by the force
sensor. When the force sensor reading exceeds the reference force, an output is generated. This ouput
is fed to the motor driver, which ultimately stops the test sequence.
IOs

Por Lin Syste Por Lin Syste

t e Left Right m t e Left Right m
0 Left Start Right Start plc 0 Rdy/Bsy Rdy/Bsy plc
1 N/A N/A 1 N/A Enc Rly test
Left Camera Right Camera
2 Trigger Trigger plc 2 N/A Home Cylinder test
Port 0

Port 3
3 Left Printer Signal Right Printer Signal plc 3 N/A Activate Cylinder test
4 N/A N/A 4 Illum Rly Illum Rly test
Camera Camera
5 N/A N/A 5 Busy/Ready Busy/Ready plc
6 N/A N/A 6 Camera Result Camera Result plc
7 N/A N/A 7 N/A N/A
0 Motor X - Left Motor X - Right test 0 Lft Rej Cod 0 Rght Rej Cod 0 plc
1 Motor Y - Left Motor Y - Right test 1 Lft Rej Cod 1 Rght Rej Cod 1 plc
2 Motor Z - Left Motor Z - Right test 2 Blob0 Blob0 plc
Port 1

Port 4
3 N/A Motor Linear test 3 Blob1 Blob1 plc
4 N/A Cylinder Home test 4 Printer Status Printer Status plc
5 N/A Cylinder Active test 5 Barcode Rslt Barcode Rslt plc
6 Emergency Emergency plc 6 Barcode Status Barcode Status plc
7 Reset Reset plc 7 Switch Selected Switch Selected plc
0 Box is present Box is present test 0 Buzzer Buzzer test
1 Check Barcode Check Barcode plc 1 N/A N/A
2 N/A N/A 2 N/A N/A
Port 2

Port 5

3 IO Button IO Button test 3 N/A N/A

4 N/A N/A 4 N/A N/A
5 N/A N/A 5 N/A N/A
6 N/A N/A 6 N/A N/A
7 N/A N/A 7 N/A N/A