Designing for Life

Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and environmental testing are usually treated as different functions.  Test items are sent separately for assessment, with no correlation between the two sets of results.  However, EMC is simply another environmental issue, because electromagnetic fields are as much a part of the environment as dust, temperature, vibration, or water ingress. It therefore makes sense to integrate EMC and environmental testing into one when developing electronic products.

The process traditionally taken is to do EMC testing first, as this is a regulatory issue; the sense of urgency to get this done is understandable.  However, over the lifecycle of a product, environmental factors can have a considerable influence on EMC performance.  Examples include screws working loose due to vibration, EMC shielding being degraded due to distortion of panels or fixings over time, and moisture ingress and corrosion affecting bonding impedance.

For producers who want to ensure that their reputation with customers’ remains positive in terms of a product’s reliability throughout its working life, it is important that environmental and EMC requirements are considered together from the start of the product development process.  This approach maximises the value of any investment made in EMC testing by helping to ensure that the EMC integrity of products will last a lifetime.

TÜV SÜD Product Service provides EMC and environmental testing including highly accelerated life testing (HALT), highly accelerated stress screening (HASS) and shock and vibration testing. Our test labs in Fareham, Hampshire, and Bearley, near Birmingham, have among the most comprehensively equipped test facilities in Europe, incorporating 11 screened enclosures, 8 dedicated EMC laboratories, 9 climatic chambers and 3 altitude facilities, capable of simulating conditions at 30,000m as well as icing and rapid decompression.