PC Boards

Printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) can often experience failures in the field. It is possible for heat sinks on some PCBAs to lift off the circuit board after assembly, and customers will want to figure out when and how this was happening. These PCBAs are very costly and cannot simply be scrapped. Often it is unknown if the heat sinks are lifting off the board during manufacturing, shipping or during customer install.

Stress analysis testing with strain gauges can be used to help identify the causes of component failure, but what if a customer has no experience working with strain gauges?

HITEC Sensors are able to work with manufacturers to place strain gauges in strategic locations on a sample lot of PCBA’s. This is done to test the stresses inflicted on a PCBA during the manufacturing process, shipment, and installation by the end-customer. Gauges are installed and PCBAs are then tested after reflow, during packaging, in a simulated transit and during an actual end-customer chassis install. In addition to performing a gauge installation, HITEC will visit the customer site and collect data during testing

Outsourcing the gauging and testing of the PCBAs to HITEC can be an economical and quick solution for any customer, with the whole process taking place within a few weeks. We review data with our customers, identify where within your processes faults are occuring due to high stresses. This allows manufacturers to quickly issue corrective actions to their end-customer, eliminating failures during specific stages of the installation process. Identifying where stresses were highest saves our customers from scrapping thousands of dollars of product.