In the next few years, technology will fundamentally transform healthcare delivery around the world. Technological advancements are ushering in a new era of connected personal health solutions that could radically improve healthcare while reducing costs. These solutions will need to be broadly deployed to help address today’s most pressing healthcare challenges.
There are many reasons why successful appliance design manufacturers use Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), including lower warranty costs, more successful testing programs, improved safety and compliance. But one of the most important reasons to use FMEA during appliance design is customer satisfaction.
Just as the manufacturers of the world thought they were getting a stranglehold on the compliance requirements in the European Union (EU), the EU throws in another regulation to comply with. On June 1, 2007, the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals Regulation (EC 1907/2006), more commonly known as REACH, came into force. The REACH Regulation was created with the intention to protect human health, as well as the environment, by reducing the risk of harmful chemical exposure.
The refrigeration industry currently has a
number of standards and methods of measurement in place to provide a helpful
guide for determining the energy efficiency of equipment. These methods, such
as the Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER), allow engineers to compare different
compressors and operating conditions, ultimately finding a combination that
fits the application at hand.
Why is UL changing its motor standards? This is
generally the first reaction when people hear that UL is changing its venerable
UL 1004 and UL 2111 standards for electric motors. Part of this reaction is due
to the perception in some quarters that UL serves as the “Safety Police.”
Another part of the reaction may be due to the comfort level that engineers
have with the previous set of requirements that were first printed in 1972 and
are well recognized by manufacturers.
Programs
like Energy Star and the American Water Works Association’s Water Wiser
initiative have become increasingly pervasive in recent years demonstrating
consumers’ increasing support for the environment. These and other conservation
initiatives continue to grow in scope and in their influence over consumers’
purchasing decisions.
In recent years, there has been a trend to upgrade
household and similar appliances with electronic controls. For these types of
products, this represents a significant change because they have previously
employed “low tech” controls, including components such as electromechanical
thermostats, thermal overprotection devices, and mechanical switches.
Electronic controls have a potential to be interfered with which may cause
inadvertent operation and related safety hazards.
If
a robotic vacuum cleaner works while no one is home, does it still make a
sound? That new spin on the tree falling in the forest may not inspire you to a
night course in philosophy, but it does underscore an important point in the
realm of sound quality: there is a distinction between the objective reality
and the subjective experience. The former relates to the physical phenomenon of
generating sound pressure waves that can be quantified and characterized by a
variety of standard metrics such as intensity level, frequency, harmonics, and
so on. This objective aspect is often referred to as noise.
Like technology itself, the labels we use to describe
technology-driven processes are fluid, a function of a particular time, place
or stage of development. Even if we use a computer primarily for word
processing, we don’t call it a word processor anymore. A term such as turnkey
CAD, prevalent two decades ago, is now as dated as groovy or right on!
These days, there are only a few people left who haven’t
heard of biometrics. This technology is becoming popular for a variety of
applications where personal identity verification is needed. Typically, this is
based on improvements in security, convenience, or both.
Performing failure analysis involves determining the root
cause or causes of the failure of a product and involves a careful examination
of potential contributing factors and their interdependence. To a large extent,
the process of failure analysis depends on the experience of the analyst and
needs to be tailored to each project.
by Dale B. Edwards Barbara J. Gedeon Alan I. Kasner
Wafflers that imprint interesting designs have become very popular, and Jarden’s Tilia subsidiary makes a variety of them sold under the VillaWare brand, including one that makes heart-shaped waffles and others that imprint the image of popular cartoon characters. In an effort to push the waffle envelope, the Tilia design team came up with the idea to develop a waffler that would imprint a bouquet of roses.
European Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) compliance has been in force since July 1. Many manufacturers who fall within the scope of the regulation have done what they believe is due diligence by collecting Certificates of Compliance or Declarations of Compliance from their suppliers.
Manufacturers can build service life prediction (SLP) models for weathering studies by using xenon arc Weather-Ometers and proper design of experiment (DOE). By inputting environmental data from the outdoor exposure location, manufacturers can predict service life.
From lawn mowers to espresso machines, any fluid-handling appliance requires leak testing to demonstrate readiness for market release. Usually, the same leak testing methods that are used in prototype designs are also the best ones for assembly processes.
The new European standard EN 50366:2003, published under the 73/23/EEC Low Voltage Directive, pertains to manufacturers and marketers of household appliances and similar apparatuses, sometimes referred to HHA devices. The requirement, effective as of Feb. 1, 2006, established a method to show compliance with the European Council Recommendation 1995/519/EC concerning human exposure to low-frequency electromagnetic fields.
When a company hears that it is involved in a federal product recall, the news can generate tremendous anxiety throughout the organization. Inevitably, questions will arise.
