Mass parametric acquisition of relay contact data during high-speed life test

Applied Relay Testing Ltd is a specialist Company that has created a range of advanced test products dedicated to relays and switch devices covering the areas of low-level parametric measurement, life-testing and high-voltage qualification. Traditional relay life test systems are often constrained to only basic functionality such as the measurement of closed contact resistance and confirmation that the contact opens correctly. Basic functionality keeps equipment costs in check when testing at high cycle rates (MEMS and reed relays) or with many simultaneous contacts. However in an ideal world the relay designer would have access to much more information about contact activity during life-test providing parameters such as timing and the contact voltage and current during load switching. To deliver such information to the designer, this paper discusses techniques for acquiring and processing sampled data from every contact on every relay continually throughout a life-test. This gives a huge insight into lifetime contact switching performance by providing large test result datasets that can be mined later for investigative purpose or used to develop new test models. It will also be shown that the technique is of equal benefit across the entire spectrum of relays from MEMS and reed relays through to large power devices.