Design and Development of Card Level – Smart Testing Jigs For the Solid State Auto-loaders of T-85 UG, Al-Khalid and Al-Khalid 1 Main Battle Tanks.

Abstract

Solid State Auto-Loader is a robust control systems in main battle tanks to enhance the firepower and maneuverability. The auto-loading mechanism consists of two subsections, the ‘Motorized Mechanical Subsystem’ driven by several high power motors and solenoids along with the mechanical proximity switches. The other part is the ‘Electrical Control Subsystem’ responsible for coordinated control of various operations carried out by mechanical subsystems. All these are controlled through Solid State Auto-Loader. The Solid State Auto-Loader (SSAL) is a Solid State system because that has eliminated the need of any mechanical relay and utilizes the latest Solid State Electronic Devices to provide all the control functionalities hence leading to more reliable system. The SSAL consists of three Units and all these units are interlinked with each other using CAN communication protocol. The SSAL consists of three units, ‘Power Distribution Unit’, ‘Memory Unit’ and ‘Ammo Unit’. All these units uses various Electronic Circuit Boards, which are used to carry out all the operations of Auto-Loading. During the production of SSAL, these boards were needed to be tested for the proper functionality and performance. So a system is needed that can test these Electronic Circuit Boards to reduce the fault errors and ensure its proper functionality in least amount of time. This research presents the development of Smart Testing Jigs for testing of all the Electronic Circuit Cards used in SSAL of T-85 UG, Al-Khalid and Al-Khalid 1 Tanks for proper functionality of all its Electrical Controlled Outputs as well as Inputs from various sensors and switches. Testing is done autonomously without the intervention of a person and pin-points particular Input or Output Signal(s) that are malfunctioning.