Test apparatus for locating shorts during assembly of electrical buses

US4282479A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration · US

Inventors

• Gordon J. Deboo · Sunnyvale, US
• David J. Devine · San Jose, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 24, 1979
• Grant date: Aug 4, 1981
• Expiry date: Aug 24, 1999

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01R31/52
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A test apparatus for locating electrical shorts that is especially suited for use while an electrical circuit is being fabricated or assembled. A ring counter derives input pulses from a squarewave oscillator. The outputs of the counter are fed through transistors to an array of light emitting diodes. Each diode is connected to an electrical conductor, such as a bus bar, that is to be tested. In the absence of a short between two electrical conductors the diodes are sequentially illuminated. When a short occurs, a comparator/multivibrator circuit triggers an alarm and stops the oscillator and the sequential energization of the diodes. The two diodes that remain illuminated identify the electrical conductors that are shorted.