ON Semiconductor and RFMicron Develop Battery-Free, Wireless Sensor Technology for Leak Detection

ON Semiconductor and RFMicron have expanded their collaboration in order to develop an effective leak detection solution for in-line vehicle production. This RFM5126 Moisture Intrusion Detection system makes use of battery-free and wireless sensors to detect in-vehicle water leaks caused by incorrect assembly.

Before the vehicles leave the factory, it is important to check them for leaks and assembly issues so as to improve outgoing quality as well as to avoid customer warranty issues. To address this issue, the new automated leak detection system has been assembled in the production line in a way that it can detect the smallest damage-inducing leaks.The newly installed system is equipped with moisture detection sensors incorporating Magnus IC from RF Micron, which supports a revolutionary range of battery-free wireless sensors offered under Smart Passive Sensors and SPS.

The vehicle assembly process involves a wide range of materials, components, and human-driven processes. Even with the best traditional efforts and manual inspection, small leaks can go unnoticed. This may allow enough water into the vehicle which over the time can cause mold growth and potential damage to expensive electronics modules and components. As per the statistics, up to 3% of vehicles shipped from the factor have leaks that lead to costly warranty repairs. The RFM5126 system can accurately identify these leaks at a lower cost and labor impact.

Discussing the new system in detail, the unobtrusive battery-free wireless sensors are installed in the vehicle at the bare metal stage before the installation of interior seats and trims. After the completion of the assembly, the vehicles move through a high-pressure spray test where the small, hard-to-find leaks are flagged by the system. Meanwhile, the drive-through portal stations that are easily installed on existing vehicle assembly lines allow communication with the sensors,

These portal stations incorporate comprehensive sensor monitoring software reporting about the accurate leak locations and thus helping to speed the rework process. Over time, this system strengthens process improvement by helping automakers identify issues leading to leaks in the first place.

About RFMicron

RFMicron’s Smart Passive Sensing™ solution has redefined, connectivity, sensing and processing data. RFMicron delivers a novel system approach to sensing, using tightly coupled hardware and software, which collects the “raw” sensor data and processes it at the central processing node. The solution eliminates the need for battery, enables passive sensing, adds intelligence to the sensor, minimizes the amount of data processing at the sensor node, and transfers the complicated data processing to be completed at a central processing location using software

RFMicron Smart Passive Sensing™ solution, brings connectivity to previously unconnected objects and situations. Addressing diverse markets that include automotive manufacturing, healthcare, and industrial. RFMicron’s Smart Passive Sensing solutions are based on RFMicron’s low-cost semiconductor sensors, which operate in wireless, microcontroller-free, battery-free deployments. The company brings the sensor data to SMART Edge devices for data reduction, analytics and cognitive processing, all designed to drive business insights.

About ON Semiconductor

ON Semiconductor is driving energy efficient innovations, empowering customers to reduce global energy use. The company is a leading supplier of semiconductor-based solutions, offering a comprehensive portfolio of energy efficient, power management, analog, sensors, logic, timing, connectivity, discrete, SoC and custom devices. The company’s products help engineers solve their unique design challenges in automotive, communications, computing, consumer, industrial, medical, aerospace and defense applications. ON Semiconductor operates a responsive, reliable, world-class supply chain and quality program, a robust compliance and ethics program, and a network of manufacturing facilities, sales offices and design centers in key markets throughout North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific regions.