Editorial
Shock announcement; TRaC extends environmental test services
New investment adds Drop-test Shock Machine to extensive product test facilities. TRaC has further extended its environmental test capabilities with the installation of a Lansmont 95 shock test machine.
The investment, at TRaC's Warwick facility, augments a shock, impact and vibration test installation that already comprises 14 electromagnetic "shakers" and an alternative design of drop test machine.
The Lansmont 95 is a vertical free-fall drop shock test unit, with a square table size of 950 x 950 mm and a payload capacity (mass of the unit to be tested) of 1000 kg. It provides a carefully-controlled environment for drop-testing, in which shock pulses have a known profile and are fully repeatable. The test machine will apply half sine, final peak sawtooth and trapezoidal waveforms, at acceleration levels of up to 800g. It allows shock testing with the device-under-test energised, and has the facility to acquire up to ten channels of data from the shock test.
TRaC's environmental test laboratory is fully UKAS accredited; the area in which the new machine has been installed is purpose-built, with all appropriate safety features, and can carry out testing on both commercial and defence equipment.
TRaC gains full accreditation for IEC/EN60601 medical device testing
TRaC is now able to offer testing of medical equipment in accordance with the IEC/EN60601 standard. TRaC is fully accredited by UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) to test equipment in accordance with the international standard.
IEC/EN60601 is a family of standards that govern safety of electrical medical equipment, and is identical with the International IEC standard 60601; approval under the standard is a fundamental requirement before a manufacturer can market any electrical device for patient diagnostics, monitoring or care, in any market world-wide. The standard sets minimum requirements not only for basic electrical safety, but also for EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) and mechanical safety, as well as a range of other parameters, according to the particular technology employed in any particular item of medical equipment.
Developers of medical electrical systems now have a single point of contact for all their safety and EMC testing needs; TRaC is able to offer a cost-effective route to product certification, with good lead-times, in this specialised sector where the necessary expertise has often been difficult to locate.
TRaC already holds accreditation to carry out safety testing of all medical diagnostic
Seismic Vibration Qualification - Friday 10th September 2010
Confidence in product reliability and functionality during and after an earthquake event is critical for many aspects of the Nuclear and Telecommunications Industries, particularly with respect to safety related equipment.
This seminar provides an overview of the Seismic Qualification process, including its objectives, commonly adopted standards and key technical issues to be aware of. The seminar will include a demonstration of a full seismic qualification test programme on the Earthquake Shaking Table at Bristol University.
In conjunction with the University of Bristol, TRaC carries out a broad range of seismic qualification programmes each year. This seminar will be of interest to engineers from across the mechanical, electrical, telecommunications, energy and related engineering fields and will be particularly useful to those tendering for, or embarking on projects that require seismic qualification.
The seminar will be lead by Colin Taylor, Professor of Earthquake Engineering, University of Bristol, with independent industry and academic experts giving presentations on the fundamental aspects of the Seismic Qualification Process.
The seminar will take place at The Earthquake Engineering Centre, Queens Building, University on Friday 10th September 2010 from 8.45am to 16.45pm.
The registration fee (including lunch and refreshments) is £150 (excl. VAT) per delegate.
HALT / HASS Seminar - Tuesday 5th Oct 2010
To guide you in your product development, TRaC are hosting a Technology Insight Briefing that will both explain the concept, and provide a practical demonstration of HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Test) and HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screening).
Mr. Bob Page of Reliability Plus, an industry expert in this field, will lead the presentation being held at the TRaC Environmental & Analysis facility in Warwick on Tuesday 5th Oct 2010 from 9am to 4pm. This seminar will be particularly useful to Engineers who are managing new product development programmes.
HALT is rapidly emerging as a recognised means to dramatically cut development timescales through a process of accelerated aging. This is achieved by employing high levels of multi-axial vibration and rapid temperature cycling, either separately or in combination. Whilst the test does not mimic a particular reality, it very effectively employs environmental conditions commonly experienced in service, and so exposes design features and manufacturing defects which could lead to premature failure.
The registration fee (including lunch, refreshments, and set of seminar notes) is £110 (excl. VAT) per delegate. Attending delegates will also benefit from a 25% discount on HALT chamber hire for their company’s next
TRaC in the US gets MET approval
Mark Heaven, CEO of TRaC, has just returned from a seminar held by US safety mark partner MET Labs. The seminar not only covered US and EU mandatory EMC and Safety but also included presentations by DfR Solutions on Reliability Prediction for Electronic Hardware, Core Source Technologies presented Thermal Management Principles at the System Level and Verizon spoke of the company's progress at becoming greener.
Mark presented papers on the EU ATEX directive and it's synergy with the US Hazloc and the IECEX approvals programmes reviewing the routes to compliance and technical requirements whilst highlighting how time to market can be minimised by engaging with TRaC and MET early on in the programme and ensuring a qualification document and test plan is drawn up to suite all intended markets and avoid duplication. The cost reduction that ATEX factory inspection by MET fully supported by TRaC in the USA was particularly well received.
Mark was also able to announce the recent collaboration with BSI in offering an approvals programme for equipment designed to operate in explosive atmosphere, BSI is a well known and trusted brand in the