InterTech Design Report (DR-181)
You can’t think BIG if you can’t test small...MicroScale small...
The Challenge: Superficially, it might seem like makers of latest generation glucose monitoring devices live in a different technical universe than the pioneers of autonomous electric vehicles. From a test engineering perspective, however, the same testing methods are needed to protect electronic components in medical wearables as in batteries, radar instruments, cameras, and other key AV/EV components. Whether it is safeguarding the lifetime integrity of a portable heart monitor, making sure that highly viscous pharmaceuticals are dosed appropriately, or ensuring dust doesn’t mar the functioning of any electronic component, etc.– product innovators need to know that leaks are microscopically small– as small as 8 microliters/minute (0.008 sccm), which is equivalent to a less than 0.5 micron hole size.
InterTech’s MicroScale Testing Drives Innovation
It’s highly likely that you have already been touched by InterTech’s MicroScaleTesting Technology – in your fitness tracker’s water-proof battery enclosure, or your ability to access rapid testing during the height of the COVID pandemic, or in any number of sealed electronic components in your car.
Here are some case studies of how InterTech’s MicroScale Testing Technology is helping to drive innovation across the board–
Sealed Package integrity testing to meet IP 67/68 requirements
Wearable transmitter & charger are tested to a 30 microliter/minute limit (0.030 sccm ).
Testing is done at 49 kPa (7.1 psi) and is equivalent to 1 drop of water ingression at 5 meters after 30 minutes.
Battery enclosures (10 configurations) are tested to user selectable limits of 5 to 100 microliters/minute
InterTech worked with customer engineers to develop the test specifications for the family of enclosures.
Container closure Integrity (CCI) testing for challenging life science applications meets the requirements for a deterministic leak test method
PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction)Test Cell leak tests parts to an 8microliters/minute (0.008 sccm) limit
InterTech in-line cell tests parts at a 2.8 sec. test time.
Molecular Assay Cuvettes are tested to a 20 microliters/minute (0.02 sccm) limit.
Both leak testing and fixture design requirements presented unique challenges in precision and repeatability.
Buffer packs are leak tested to a 10 microliters/minute (0.01 sccm) limit.
System has a measurement capability of detecting leaks as small as 1 microliter/
minute.
All of the above case study applications feature advanced InterTech technology:
InterTech M1075 MicroScale Leak Detector
The M1075 MicroScale Leak Detector
features a 32-bit operating system and 28-bit A/D conversion with optimized test circuit engineering, and proprietary transducer design to eliminate all sources of error and meet the challenges of MicroScale testing.
Superior InterTech Test Fixture Design and Build
Test volumes are minimized and thermal errors eliminated, while maintaining required micron level tolerances. These are all required features to achieve repeatable and traceable test data.
InterTech TechPress (tm) Tooling Solution for R&D and Audit Applications
InterTech’s TechPress(tm) with attached custom tooling streamlines testing by delivering a consistent sealing force against a positive stop. Over-clamping and under-clamping of parts are eliminated to enable reliable manual operation. Quick-change tooling provides versatile solutions for challenging low-volume applications