Smart AWA

#The present invention relates generally to an automatic wiring analyzer (AWA), and more particularly to a smart automatic wiring analyzer that is portable, self-contained and applicable to test wires or harnesses in a fuel rich environment.

#While performing a test or analysis on a cable or a harness, the conventional wiring analyzer is normally connected to an interface fixture such as a unique harness board containing connectors designed to interface the cable or the harness under test. The process to define how the harness board connectors are connected or attached to the wiring analyzer is done by probing each pin of the harness board connectors guided by a software. Alternatively, a keyboard entry for one pin at a time may also be applied to define the connection between the harness board pin and the pin of the wiring analyzer. In this manner, for a harness of 512 points, 512 manual steps (probing or keying) are required.

#Thus, the above wiring analyzer normally has a large volume and a heavy weight applicable to bench operation only. This kind of wiring analyzer is typically rack mounted, and have to be wheeled up to a vehicle or a plane with very long cables. Further, the wiring analyzer is normally operated with a 60 Hz power and cannot be used in a fuel-rich environment.

#These, as well as other features of the present invention, will become more apparent upon reference to the drawings wherein:

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing circuit of the smart automatic wiring analyzer according to the invention;

#FIG. 2 shows an exterior of the automatic wiring analyzer;

#FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the smart automatic wiring analyzer that can be controller by a computer via an interface such as an RS-232 interface (Referring to 201 of FIG. 3). Referring to FIG. 2, the smart automatic wiring analyzer is housed in a transit case 30, preferably a military standard transit case. On the case, a handle 201 may be attached to provide the portability. Various kinds of locks 202 and 203 may be installed on the case to secure and protect the smart automatic wiring analyzer 10 therein.

#Referring to FIG. 1, the smart automatic wiring analyzer 10 includes a base unit 12 and an add-on unit 14 connected with each other in a daisy chain. Both the base unit 12 and the add-on unit 14 are selected from typical modular wiring analyzer boxes, for example, the Cirris Wiring Analyzers. Each of the base unit 12 and the add-on unit 14 has a test capability of testing 256 points. That is, the smart automatic wiring analyzer 10 has the test capability of testing 512 points. It is appreciated that the number of the testing pins of the smart automatic wiring analyzer 10 can be altered and designed according to specific requirements. That is, the number and variety of the modular wiring analyzer boxes are not restricted to two Cirris Wiring Analyzers. Instead, other kinds of harness tester with different testing points may also be applied to the smart automatic wiring analyzer 10.

#Instead of incorporating a harness board, as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of I/O connectors 16 are installed on a control panel (referring to FIG. 3) of the smart automatic wiring analyzer 10. The base unit 12 and the add-on unit 14 are connected to the I/O connectors 16, which provides a direct connection between the cable or harness under test and the smart automatic wiring analyzer 10. That is, the cable or harness under test is directly connected or attached to the smart automatic wiring analyzer 10 without using a harness board as a connection interface. The wire list of how each pin of each I/O connector 16 is connected or attached to the base unit 12 and the add-on analyzer 14 is pre-stored in a database of a software file. In this embodiment, four connectors 16 selected from military I/O connectors that can be connected to various kinds of cables or harnesses under test are mounted a panel of the smart automatic wiring analyzer 10. Preferably, each of the connectors 16 has 128 interface pins.