Customer Case | Highly Integrated Modular Solution Revolutionizes Automotive Junction Box Testing Efficiency

The automotive central electrical junction box is responsible for power distribution, circuit protection, and intelligent control. It provides overload protection for various electrical devices and wiring harnesses, ensuring the operational safety of each electrical component, making it the core hub of the automotive electrical system. The centralized distribution architecture has become a trend in vehicle power systems. This architecture streamlines the traditional distributed structure of 30–50 body electronic control units (ECUs) down to 3–5 functional domains, significantly improving node utilization, reducing the length of automotive wiring harnesses, and ensuring vehicle lightweighting.

Next, we will share with you the application of NGI products in the field of automotive central electrical junction box testing.

Customer Background

Customer H is a globally leading manufacturer of automotive power distribution and wiring harness connection solutions. Its main businesses include automotive central power distribution boxes, vehicle wiring harnesses, connectors, etc. Its products are widely used by top global brands such as Continental, Bosch, and Geely.

Testing Requirements

The customer's project references the standards: GB/T 31465.1-2015 "Road vehicles-Fuse-links-Part 1: Definitions and general test requirements"and QC/T 707-2004"Technical specifications for automotive central electrical junction boxes." It requires aging, load endurance testing for its fuse-links and fuse circuits, presenting challenges such as a high number of channels and complex operating conditions.

Multiple Channels, Space-Consuming

The customer's junction box project requires support for over 80 channels of current loading paths, correspondingly requiring over 80 channels of test loads. Traditional electronic loads offer only 1 channel per 2U half-rack width space, which would occupy up to 3–4 standard cabinet racks.

Complex Operating Conditions, Time-Consuming

The customer's junction box products need to simulate the complex operating conditions of hundreds of electrical units such as wipers, horns, ignition coils, and lights. This requires different channels to be able to set custom current operating condition sequences. The traditional manual configuration method is not only cumbersome but also time-consuming when dealing with multi-channel, highly complex condition settings, becoming a major factor limiting testing efficiency.

Highly Integrated Modular Solution

Addressing the customer's junction box testing requirements, NGI introduced an automotive central junction box testing system based on GB/T 31465.1-2015 "Road vehicles-Fuse-links-Part 1: Definitions and general test requirements" and QC/T 707-2004 "Technical specifications for automotive central electrical junction boxes." Utilizing equipment such as power supplies, loads, temperature acquisitionmodules, and data acquisition modules, the system achieves multi-channel current loading, temperature acquisition, voltage drop measurement, and other functions, perfectly matching the customer's testing needs.

Building-Block Software, Flexible and Efficient

The system software adopts a modular design. Users can flexibly select test items based on requirements, supporting the customization of key parameters such as device channels, on/off times, and loading currents. It supports one-click copying and custom editing of sequences for each channel, greatly reducing preliminary configuration time and improving testing efficiency.

High Integration, Saves More Space

This system utilizes the N61100 series electronic load products, which support 12 channels in a 3U space, saving over 50% more space compared to traditional solutions.