Remote Troubleshooting System for Vehicle Semiconductor Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Automotive semiconductor components face reliability issues due to unpredictable usage conditions and lack of pre-shipment testing, leading to performance deterioration and trouble occurrence, especially in severe environments like the engine room, where stress factors such as heat, vibration, and humidity can cause malfunctions.
Innovation Solution
A remote troubleshooting system that uses a server-connected vehicle with a control processor and memory to transmit data on stress factors like temperature, humidity, and vibration frequency, allowing for statistical analysis and selection of appropriate troubleshooting programs based on precaution levels, which can be updated to improve prediction and prevention of component failures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If semiconductor components are used in severe usage conditions without pre-shipment testing, then manufacturing cost and productivity are improved, but reliability deteriorates due to performance deterioration and trouble occurrence
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary monitoring and prediction of component deterioration by continuously collecting vehicle data (temperature, humidity, vibration, electrical current) and comparing it against pre-stored deterioration models. This allows early detection of potential failures before they occur, enabling preventive maintenance and improving reliability without requiring extensive pre-shipment testing of each component.
Solution Approach 2:
The system establishes a feedback loop where vehicle operating data is continuously collected, processed against deterioration models, and used to predict future component states. This feedback mechanism allows the system to adapt to actual usage conditions and provide accurate reliability assessments, resolving the contradiction between mass production efficiency and component reliability.
2Reliability
If comprehensive pre-shipment testing is conducted on all semiconductor components, then reliability is improved, but manufacturing cost and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of testing every component exhaustively before shipment, the system applies partial monitoring by selecting key parameters (temperature, humidity, vibration, electrical current) that best indicate component health. This selective approach provides sufficient reliability information without the time cost of comprehensive testing of all possible failure modes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system prepares deterioration models in advance that encapsulate failure patterns learned from historical data. These pre-computed models enable rapid real-time assessment without requiring time-consuming analysis during operation, thus improving reliability monitoring speed while minimizing testing time requirements.
3Measurement precision
If vehicle data is continuously monitored and transmitted for troubleshooting, then troubleshooting accuracy is improved, but communication load and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the most critical data elements needed for troubleshooting (temperature, humidity, vibration, electrical current) rather than transmitting all possible vehicle data. This selective extraction maintains high troubleshooting accuracy by focusing on parameters most directly related to semiconductor component health while minimizing communication energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transmits data partially and selectively based on what is necessary for effective troubleshooting. By transmitting only essential parameters at optimized intervals rather than continuous full-data streams, the system achieves sufficient troubleshooting accuracy while reducing the energy burden of communication operations.
Data Source
AI summary
A remote troubleshooting system comprises a vehicle that transmits vehicle data regarding a stress factor of a specific onboard component at a specified timing, and a troubleshooting server that is connected to the vehicle via a network, receives the vehicle data from the vehicle, and performs the troubleshooting of the onboard component. The server determines a precaution level based on the vehicle data from the vehicle, selects a troubleshooting program that is suitable to the precaution level determined, and transmits this to the vehicle. The vehicle replaces the troubleshooting program currently stored by a memory with the troubleshooting program received. Thereby, the reliability of the troubleshooting can be improved.