Application: Power Supply Printed Circuit Board Assembly
Status: Design and Commissioning Completed in November 2021, Phase 3 to start in 2022

Powerexpert was contracted to provide a clone of an existing PCBA that had little documentation and several obsolete and hard to find components. The customer needed a drop-in replacement, complete with calibration.

Phase 1: Design
Completed in late 2018
Scope of work included reverse engineering of circuits, component substitutions, circuit redesign of obsolete components, full design documentation, test plan generation, and test fixture design. Powerexpert selected and contracted the drafting work to a PCBA design company. Powerexpert performed all engineering design and project management. The test fixture developed by Powerexpert included a tester PCBA and custom wire harnesses.

Phase 2: Hardware Delivery
Completed in November 2021
The scope of work included assessment of the components, re-engineering obsolete components/circuits, developing a modern bill of material, manufacturing, delivery, and integration into the customer’s system. Two board assemblies were successfully commissioned and are currently installed in the customer’s system. While the board passed all factory bench tests, the original board documentation did not include sufficient calibration settings, and it was found that the customer was calibrating their existing boards improperly. Powerexpert provided support by determining the proper calibration settings (over current trip, current regulation, power regulation, and various analog signal scaling) and providing a detailed calibration procedure. The customer is happy as they no longer are at risk of obsolescence; they can confidently purchase drop-in replacement board assemblies with updated copper and redesigned circuits due to obsolete components on their existing boards. Moreover, they now have a detailed and easy to follow calibration procedure to ensure repeatable performance and accuracy with their process.

Phase 3: Final Production and Support
Expected to start in 2022
Scope of work included manufacturing and delivery of final production-level board assemblies. All documentation is to be updated, including test and calibration procedures. Powerexpert will continue to provide engineering support to the customer for years to come, as needed.