Customer Background
Our customer is a multi-billion-dollar company well-known for delivering smart production solutions for connection technology, electronics, and automation across diverse sectors including electric mobility, wind and solar energy, automotive, and many others. Headquartered in Germany, the company has a century-long history of delivering automation solutions worldwide, driven by its commitment for sustainability-focused innovations.
Customer Need
Our customer, renowned for their expertise in electric vehicle (EV) charging station technology, aimed to enter the competitive US market. To meet US safety standards, they needed fail-safe and fault-tolerant software designs. Based on our past success and their trust in Softdel, they partnered with us for certification support.
Softdel’s Solution
- Softdel assisted the customer in securing Underwriter Laboratories (UL) certifications, namely UL 991 and UL 1998, for their EV charger product/handler.
- Softdel conducted an in-depth gap analysis to evaluate the existing safety standards’ status and subsequently created a comprehensive checklist of procedures to be observed for achieving compliance.
- The validation process involved an extensive audit, which encompassed tracing over 100 requirements, ensuring proper evidence within each design specification, and creating test cases for each requirement.
- Drawing on our expertise, we identified each hardware component and potential issues, addressing these gaps and providing software checks to mitigate failures. The project scope involved:
- Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) preparation and execution
- Conducting risk analysis, performing static code analysis, and dynamic analysis
- Implementing code changes to address FMEA-induced failures
- Executing UL-1998 CPU tests
- Additionally, Softdel generated documentation in alignment with the UL checklist guidelines to support the certification process.
Standards and Technology
Communication Protocol: CAN bus
Testing: Static and Dynamic Analysis, Vector cast, PClint, MPLab analysis tool
Programming Language: Embedded C & C++
Platform: Baremetal & RTOS based embedded system
CPU Tests: As per UL 1998 annexure A
Benefits
- Accelerated UL certification: Softdel helped the customer expedite UL certification, accelerating time to market and bolstering their introduction into the US EV sector.
- Competitive advantage: UL certification ensured safety and quality, instilling confidence in their customers, positioning them favorably in the industry, and enhancing their potential for a significant market share.
- Enhanced product reliability: Through FMEA, risk analysis, and code adjustments, Softdel notably improved the reliability and safety of the customer's embedded electronics and software, resulting in fewer safety issues for end-users.
