Factory Acceptance Test Explained - Part 1 | Power the Control Panel

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⌚Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:35 - Acceptance Test
01:56 - FAT example
02:52 - Step 1) Power the control panel
03:46 - Point #1
04:23 - Point #2
04:38 - Step 2) Switch on all the devices in the control panel

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In the world of industrial automation, a Factory Acceptance Test or FAT is simply a test for a newly manufactured control system that takes place at your factory or your workshop before you ship the control panel to the customer.

With a Factory Acceptance Test, you make sure that everything works properly before you deliver a control cabinet to a customer.

Let’s explore FAT a bit further through a practical example.

Let’s say that you are a company that designs and implements industrial control systems. These control systems often come in the form of a control panel built into a control cabinet.

You’ve built the control panel and now it’s ready to ship to the customer. But before you ship it you want to make sure that everything works properly. The last thing you want is to ship it to the customer’s site only to find out that things are not quite working the way they should.

Consequently, you will have to spend countless hours at the client’s site solving issues that you could have easily taken care of before shipping the control panel. So, as the name suggests, a FAT is completed at the factory.

Now you may be wondering, where should I start? What do I need to test? Well, I will show exactly that through a step-by-step example.

Step 1
As the first step, you need to connect the power to your control cabinet and turn it on. We have a main circuit breaker for every control panel. This is where the power comes into the control panel for all of the devices.

To let the electricity come into the panel, you need to connect the power to the topside of the circuit breaker. This is a wire that comes from outside of the panel.

You connect it to the circuit breaker only for testing and once you are done and want to ship the cabinet, you simply disconnect the wires from the topside of the circuit breaker.

The power that comes into the panel can be anywhere from 480 volts AC to as low as 120 volts AC depending on where you are and the country you are based in.

Once you have the power connected to the topside of the circuit breaker, you can switch it on for the power to flow to the control panel.

Although this seems a very simple process so far, there are two important points that you need to consider when trying to power on your control panel:

#1
The circuit breaker generally has a disconnect on the outside of the panel that allows you to shut off the power. Before you want to connect the cable to the main circuit breaker inside the panel make sure that you have disconnected the power using this switch.

Don’t take the hot power into your hand and try to connect it to the circuit breaker. This is dangerous.

#2
The second point to consider here is that when you switch off the circuit breaker, the topside of it will still have power. So, again, before you want to disconnect the power you need to make sure that you have disconnected the power from the outside of the panel.

Step 2
Now that you have connected the power cable to the control panel and switched on the circuit breaker, you also need to switch on any other breakers or fuses that you may have on the way to power the PLC and the other devices.

In the end, I also switch on the PLC power supply as well. The PLC power supply could be installed on the same rack as the PLC or somewhere else on the panel. We may have one, two, or three power supplies on our panel depending on how many devices we need to power on in the control panel. The more devices we have, the more power we need to turn them on.

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#RealPars #FAT #Control_Panel

[saurabhbhardwaj]

Control system FAT usually comprises of Hardware and Software FAT. Before starting with FAT, it is important that all the documents required for performing FAT are available: system configuration, P&IDs, I/O list, Functional design specifications, HMI design specification, Alarm and trip setting list, Logic diagrams, Control loop diagrams, HMI screen, Specification of Control system hardware, panel GAD and wiring diagram, Bill of material, list of signal exchange with third party interface ( hardwired and soft signals) and FAT procedure as a minimum. All these documents should be approved by your customer before you can take a panel into manufacturing and start with system development.

A FAT procedure lists the detailed procedure for testing of hardware, I/Os, program, HMI interface and third party interface as much as practicable.

[godtermand]

In developing a new plant, we also use the FAT to test SCADA checking TAGs, units, scalings, texts, alarm areas etc. We also let the operators get a hands on experience by navigating in a safe environment and let them give their inputs before the functionality and software is locked for site testing.

[alexandernorman]

In my experience, the secret to a good FAT is to identify and test all functionality. It's usually not possible to reproduce all the inputs, outputs, and interfaces of the destination plant. But identify every type and test a representative sample, and scale your system so that it can handle the full requirement.

[CommercialGasEngineerVideos]

These vids are helpful as there aren't many in the UK. Thanks

[mufti]

I have started my career in automation last year.. Your every presentation is very useful.

[marlonzapata]

It's an important video, i like to learn by watching all your videos. A step that i used to do before turn on the main braker is to check with the multimeter with continuity, the possibles shorts circuits between lines that helps tolo correct the conections and saves the elementd of the control panel.

[paulrinehart]

I would like to see a video on incorporating a battery backup into the PLC. Nice job on the FAT.

[odeaore]

I have already done this kind of task for automotive industry in France, and they asked to check the tension too, and in the end you must sign.

[muzammilsyed]

Very basic but very important. Wonderfully explained. Thx

[TheSikandarNawaz]

I believe first step is to check the integrity of wiring and if proper grounding is in place.
I have had bad experience of wrong wiring where short circuit happened just after panel is powered on.
Also in one instance the grounding was not properly fixed and one of the PLC card burnt because of electrostatic discharge.

[ghanshamshirbhate]

Very Helpful...…..Keep it up...…Waiting for the Video on SAT (Site Acceptance Test)

[nallamanish]

Hello Realpars. If it's possible kindly make a video for ground bond test. Insulation resistance test. HV test, Megger test, Earthing leakage relay test.

Thank you.

[adekolasulaiman]

Nice and good job. Thanks for sharing.

[KevIn-tufv]

Make sure to do a point-to-point test before turning on the main power. Somestimes the connections made during the building of the panel can be wrong.

[jagdeepminhas]

Valuable for me to level up my knowledge

[karimsh]

Nice one. would you kindly make a vedio about PLC software based PC

[MohamedSoliman-rmmt]

Very Valuable Information
Thank you, RealPars

[hamzamohamed]

I like this vedio because i found it sooo useful

[Anil.Varanasi]

Hai, What is Configuration Acceptance Test for PLC?

[tamilselvans]

Hi can anyone tell me how to check pull test (any device available) of the the Connected wire in Terminal block, MCB, PSU, , ,,