ATE Solutions announced that they have received a second large order from Protean Electric, the global electric drive technology company to develop further testing systems for Protean’s EV in-wheel motor, ProteanDRIVE.

The second Protean Electric order for ATE Solutions, received last month, is to develop the ATE for the ProteanDRIVE RAM Power Module. They are supplying two systems; a FLEX 10 for FLASH testing and a FLEX 40 for functional testing. Expected delivery time is four months. When complete the system will be accepted here in the UK and then shipped directly to the manufacturing facility in China where it will be commissioned.

Steve Lees, MD at ATE Solutions commented, “The new Power Module project has its technical challenges but having previously worked on the Power PCB we have already faced and overcome many important technical issues. Hence Protean ordered from us knowing that we’d be able to deliver what’s needed and on time.”

The system for hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehicles creates a permanent magnet e-machine with relatively high torque and power density with the power electronics and controls packaged within the motor itself.  In-wheel motors are set to revolutionise car design as no requirement for existing driveline components means design is no longer compromised. The ProteanDRIVE product development is taking place at the company’s R&D base in Farnham, before being passed over to the company’s Chinese manufacturing operation.

Taking the product to volume manufacture was always going to present challenges, and one such challenge for Protean was to build an industry leading test solution for the electronics. The company partnered with ATE Solutions, selected for both their experience and problem-solving ability. The first stage that ATE and Protean worked on was for the Power Base for which they created a solution based on modular hardware, off the shelf components, and industry leading software with Labview/TestStand bought together in their FLEX 40 system.

The ATE Solutions range of modular functional test systems successfully address most of the challenges presented by modern circuit technology. They deliver the validation required by manufacturers of some of the world’s most critical electronics assemblies used in sectors from avionics, aerospace and defence to medical devices. Built on PXI instrumentation platforms and

typically deploying industry-standard test interface hardware, the company’s Flex products are used in an impressive array of applications across the UK. But the agenda for the ATE Solutions business, and that sought by most of their customers, is to solve test problems. Test systems are just a part of the solution.

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