Compliance & Precision News Round-Up - Issue 29

This issue covers:

Your free invitation to Hannover Messe
National Electronics Week
ESC product safety round table
Cropico D05000 has multiple resistance value measurement covered
Energy labelling changes for domestic appliances
Dyson heater product recall

Your free invitation to Hannover Messe

Seaward Group will be exhibiting at Hannover Messe, Germany on 7-11 April 2014. Come and visit us at: Hall 12 - Stand number E01 where we will be exhibiting a leading range of electrical test and measurement equipment from our Clare, Cropico, Seaward and Solar brands.

You can register for your free visitor pass to the exhibition here.

Please register for your eticket before the show. The eTicket is valid for the entire duration of Hannover Messe 2014 and also gives you free access to public transport to/from the show in the Greater Hannover (GVH) region on the day of attendance.

If you're planning to go, don't forget to drop by our stand: HALL 12, STAND E01.

National Electronics Week

National Electronics Week will take place from 8-10th April at Birmingham NEC. The event is designed to enable professionals working in the UK electronics sector to share ideas, learn about new technologies and network with others in the industry.

Running under the umbrella of National Electronics Week, the event actually includes four separate sub events looking at specific sections of the overall industry. These sections are Design & Test, Components & Power, Embedded & Software, and Production & EMS.

Each sector will have tailored seminars and live features and demonstrations will take place in the exhibition showroom. Further details at www.new-expo.co.uk/newuk/

ESC product safety round table

As part of its increasing engagement with Europe and the European Parliament, the Electrical Safety Council (ESC) recently held a roundtable in Brussels to discuss electrical product safety issues.

The event - which attracted MEPs and representatives from The European Committee of Domestic Equipment Manufacturers (CECED), the European Engineering Industries Association (Orgalime), Pro-Safe (the product safety enforcement forum of Europe), European consumer bodies and other NGOs – also focused on the forthcoming Consumer Product Safety Regulation and the Market Surveillance Regulation package.

Designed to clarify and simplify EU product safety requirements, the package aims to improve traceability and recalls and strengthen a collaborative approach to market surveillance.

“Current EU rules on market surveillance and consumer product safety are fragmented – scattered over different pieces of legislation – creating gaps, overlaps and confusion”, explains Phil Buckle, Director General of the ESC, who chaired the discussion. “Our Brussels roundtable brought together key European stakeholders, to progress our proposed changes to the legislation, which focus on improving recall and traceability.”

The ESC has already had some amendments to the legislation tabled, including a requirement for manufacturers and distributors to demonstrate recall capability (if called on), and ensuring vulnerable users are considered when assessing a product’s safety.

The charity has also lobbied hard for improvements to the traceability process to be extended through to the consumer from point of sale and offered suggestions as to how this might work. Ideas include the development of a centralised database product registration system or, alternatively, through increased use of product registration cards.

Cropico D05000 has multiple resistance value measurement covered

The Cropico D05000 series of microhmmeters provides accurate measurement of resistance values for a variety of electrical manufacturing and production line applications.

The versatile D05000 has programmable current settings in 100 steps from 10µA to 10A and measures from 3mΩ to 30kΩ with a resolution of 0.1µΩ and ±0.03% accuracy.

Variable measurement speed settings of 50, 25 or 2.5 per sec allows the selection of high speed testing for production line applications, a medium mode where the device under test needs more time to settle or a slow speed for manual operation where display clarity is a priority.

True four-wire resistance measurement eliminates lead resistance errors, while auto averaging and automatic temperature compensation with 20°C referencing or other user-defined settings increases true measurement accuracy.

All these options are included in the basic D05000 unit as well as a data logging function which stores up to 4000 readings with date and time stamp. Statistical analysis of these values allows the display of max/min/average values as well as peak to peak and standard deviation. Interfaces can be added for remote control and integration into automated test systems.

For applications where portability is required the Cropico 5001 model can be powered from either a mains supply or by rechargeable batteries. The charger is also incorporated into the unit and the full 10 Amps pulsed measuring current is available when used in battery mode.

The D05000 series forms part of a range of microhmmeters and precision measurement instrumentation from the Seaward Group of companies. More at

Energy labelling changes for domestic appliances

AMDEA, the association of manufacturers of domestic electrical appliances, report that the European Commission is reviewing the Energy Labelling Directive and parts of the Ecodesign Directive.

These are the framework Directives that are implemented via product-specific Regulations concerning product design and energy efficiency matters.

The current framework Directive lays out the key components common to all EU energy labels – the coloured bands of different lengths marked from A+++ (dark green) down to G (red). Most appliances have labels showing seven classes, some with different generations of label over a specified timescale so that they begin as A-G and then progress to A+++ after a certain period of time.

The level of recognition for the coloured bands is extremely high as virtually all energy labels around the world use some variation on the red to green bands with the top being green (most energy efficient) and the bottom being red (least energy efficient). In some parts of the world the label classes have numbers rather than letters.

When the original label was introduced showing A-G most of the labelled products on the market were below a D rating. A period of massive investment in R&D led to a rapid improvement in the products available and the most recent incarnation of the label now runs from A+++ to D. However, with new appliances coming into scope that already have products that are A rated, the challenge is how to allow for any future improvements.

The Commission will be conducting a consumer survey later this spring and they propose to offer four different layout designs and gauge consumers. More details at www.amdea.org.uk

Dyson heater product recall

Appliance manufacturer Dyson has announced the voluntary recall of all models of its bladeless fan heaters.

The company is recalling all AM04 and AM05 heaters due to a potential safety issue. Out of a million heaters sold worldwide, the company said that it was aware of a small number that had short-circuited resulting in a small fire contained within the machine.

There have been no instances of injury or property damage, but the company is recalling all machines and implementing a free engineering fix in each one. For details visit www.dysonrecall.com