Putting Automotive Electronics Through the Wringer
Cars are getting smarter, but the environments they live in are still brutal. If you’re designing electronics for a dashboard baking in the July sun or an ECU tucked right next to a scorching engine block, you know the struggle. That’s why we use custom shortwave IR lamps. Most people rely on convection ovens, but those are slow. They heat the air, and then you wait for the air to heat the part. IR is different. It hits the component directly. We can crank the heat up or drop it down in seconds. It’s fast. Really fast. And that changes everything for your testing timeline. The grit behind the heat To actually mimic a real-world heat soak, you need raw power density. We build our lamps to pump out concentrated radiant energy that doesn’t just sit on the surface—it punches through the casing and hits the PCB. One heads-up, though: if you’re running a high-wattage setup, don’t skimp on your cooling fans. If your airflow isn’t dialed in, you’ll end up baking your entire test rig instead of just the part you’re testing. The build quality (because details matter) We use high-purity quartz for the lamps. Why? Because standard glass warps when things get this intense, and nobody wants a melted lamp in the middle of a run. Then there’s the wiring. Whether you’re using an R7s or a specialized SK15 connector, the fit has to be tight. A loose connection means arcing, and arcing means a bad day. We also often use coated emitters to tweak the wavelength. It’s a small detail, but it ensures the housing actually absorbs the heat rather than just bouncing it away. Why bother? The best part is getting rid of the lag. You don’t need a massive, slow-moving chamber taking up half the lab. You get a smaller footprint and way faster cycles. Plus, we can target specific spots on a circuit board to find exactly where it’s going to snap. Now, it isn’t a magic wand. You have to be careful with your pyrometer calibration, or you’ll overshoot your target temp and fry your board. But once you’ve got it dialed in? You can breeze through a 1,000-hour durability test with a level of precision you just can’t get from a standard oven.