CPS Chemical Products and Services is to open a new UK manufacturing facility at the European headquarters of its sister company, MacDermid Autotype.

CPS Chemical Products and Services, the leading European manufacturer of high quality, environmentally friendly chemicals, solvents and associated products for the screen and offset print industries, has announced that it is to open a new UK manufacturing facility at the European headquarters of its sister company, MacDermid Autotype. Based in Wantage, Oxfordshire, the new facility will produce the full range of CPS products and represents a significant investment for the company, which is part of a longer term programme of European expansion, designed to improve still further the quality and choice of products and the support provided to both the company's dealer network and thus to end users. In addition, the company has appointed a new Commercial Manager, Simon Jones, formerly with MacDermid Autotype, who explains that, 'The new UK plant includes a full-scale production operation, with bulk formulation, blending, mixing and packaging of solvents and aqueous products.

Just as importantly, the new operation gives us the opportunity to strengthen our research and product development resources, increase our range of technical and applications support services and, with the support of our sister company, to rationalise a number of our administrative functions in order to enhance still further our competitiveness in the European marketplace'.

CPS currently manufactures an extensive range of chemicals and solvents, stencil and ink cleaning equipment, recycling and filtration systems, for use in manual and automated screen and offset print operations.

The chemical product range includes screen adhesives, degreasers and preparation products, photo-emulsions and screen fillers, and screen cleaning and reclamation chemistry.

In each case, the company concentrates on developing products that both minimise environmental damage, during manufacture, use and disposal, and improve working conditions for screen printers, through reduced solvent emissions, the elimination of aggressive or harmful substances and the promotion of process automation.

Simon Jones adds, 'Our new UK manufacturing facility will also form our headquarters from which we can support our customers via our extensive European dealer network.

We have relocated and retained key staff from other CPS sites and will be recruiting as required to strengthen the team still further.

In addition, we have retained the services of one of the founders of CPS, Dr Charles Hansen, who is recognised throughout the industry as a leading expert on the formulation of environmentally friendly chemistry and this relationship will be vital as we begin to develop a new generation of products that will improve the screen and offset print working place still further

Farnell InOne, the number one source for RoHS compliant products and information, has re-energised its dedicated RoHS website.

Farnell InOne, the number one source for RoHS compliant products and information, has re-energised its dedicated RoHS website, with a new RoHS First Aid Kit that provides emergency assistance to design engineers trying to meet the requirements of the July 1st law. The RoHS First Aid Kit provides access to Farnell InOne's full range of free RoHS support services. As part of the emergency support Farnell InOne's BoM (Bill of Materials) upload service now comes with a guaranteed 48 hour turnaround time, with a dedicated BoM Response Team just two clicks away, ready to take on the task of updating customer product listings with RoHS compliant alternatives.

Other essential First Aid Kit services include downloadable certificates of compliance, 'Coming Soon' - an email notification service of when chosen RoHS products arrive in stock, and advanced search facilities for sourcing the right compliant components.

Gary Nevison, head of product market strategy, Europe and Asia Pacific at Farnell InOne comments: 'In the final run up to the 1st July, Farnell InOne is committed to making conversion as easy as possible for design engineers who aren't yet ready for RoHS.

The new First Aid Kit puts all of our services in one online location readily accessible for whatever RoHS eventuality an engineer is facing.

The web site has always been a leading industry site and will continue to support engineers up to and beyond July 1st.

Farnell InOne, the international distributor of electronic and industrial components, has launched a new 'Technology First' initiative.

To help design engineers decipher the wave of new and developing technologies hitting the electronics market, Farnell InOne, the international distributor of electronic and industrial components, has launched a new 'Technology First' initiative. The 'Technology First' series begins with the launch of a new catalogue of development kits from the leading microprocessor suppliers. The catalogue is an industry-first in providing engineers with a platform for unbiased choice and comparison, showing all the latest microprocessor offerings, such as 32-bit ARM core processors, in one place.

The twenty-page microprocessor catalogue lists development kits from ten leading microprocessor suppliers, including Microchip, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Freescale.

The wide range of kits allow engineers to develop their designs from concept to solution without incurring full-scale production costs whilst the catalogues simple format enables them to compare features and benefits alongside price and performance.

Other technologies which the 'Technology First' series will focus on later in the year include optoelectronics and power/analogue signal paths, providing topical information on a number of areas including architecture and core design.

Supporting technical information, associated links and reference material will be available to download from Electronics Design World, Farnell InOne's online community for electronic engineers at www.farnellinone.co.uk.

Jamie Furness, EDE development manager at Farnell InOne, comments: 'With so many new technologies coming on to the market, we feel it's really important to make sure that design engineers have all the information needed to make informed decisions that will help them achieve real benefit from these cutting edge developments.

We're delighted to be able to share our technical expertise and offer design engineers the support they need in adopting these new technologies.

Farnell InOne's 'Technology First' series will help engineers choose the best components to meet their design needs from the widest choice of leading manufacturers.'

End effectors made from metal matrix composite (aluminum silicon carbide), offer a lower inertial response, higher stiffness and higher strength than more traditional end effector materials..

CPS Corporation, the worldwide leader in the design and production of metal matrix composites, introduces its new end effectors for automated wafer fabrication machinery. Made from CPS' metal matrix composite, AlSiC (aluminum silicon carbide), the end effectors have the strength and stiffness of steel at one third the density. CPS' end effectors are more cost-effectively manufactured.

They offer a lower inertial response, higher stiffness and higher strength than more traditional end effector materials, such as stainless steel, molybdenum, graphite composites, and ceramic.

This makes them both ideal for the robotics and automation industries as well as hermetic vacuum compatible.

Using CPS' unique QuickCast process, the manufacturer is able to integrate functional components, such as fiber optic feeds, wafer shoes, and location pins, into the end effector during production.

The CPS AlSiC near and net-shape fabrication process both produces the composite material as well as fabricates the product geometry, resulting in a cost-effective product and that allows for rapid prototyping.

AlSiC end effectors may be coated with functional coatings including Ni plating, anodization, and Teflon impregnated anodization.

All CPS parts are custom-made to meet customer specifications.

* About CPS Corporation - CPS Corporation is the worldwide leader in the design and high-volume production of metal matrix composites.

With over 30 years combined experience, CPS engineers and scientists use a net-shape fabrication process, including patented QuickSet injection molding and QuickCast infiltration.

AlSiC components are utilized in applications in the wireless communications infrastructure, high-performance microprocessor, motor controller, and other microelectronic markets.

A new re-reeling service, enabling passive components to be re-reeled to individually specified quantities, suits surface mount passive components such as resistors, capacitors and inductors.

Farnell InOne, the number one source for RoHS compliant products and information, has launched a new re-reeling service, enabling passive components to be re-reeled to individually specified quantities. Available for surface mount passive components such as resistors, capacitors and inductors, the new service is ideally suited to small-scale production runs, where components normally come in large reel quantities but the build only requires a part reel quantity. The required components can now be re-reeled onto a new reel, ready to pick and place, saving time and money.

The new service from Farnell InOne will help engineers to eliminate the problem of wasted components.

No unused stock needs to be left on the machine and the associated storage problems for unused components will be eradicated.

In turn, assembly efficiency is improved and customers only buy what is needed.

The service comes complete with leader and trailer tape, securely reeled on a 7in reel and ready to go on a pick and place machine.

It is available for a wide range of passive components from many of the market-leading manufacturers including AVX, EPCOS, Phycomp, Multicomp, Murata, Welwyn and Panasonic.

Jadoo Power Systems has announced it will be showcasing its award-winning XRT and N-Gen fuel cell product lineup at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Jadoo Power Systems has announced it will be showcasing its award-winning XRT and N-Gen fuel cell product lineup at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) during ShowStoppers CES 2007 on Monday, January 8, 2007 at 6:00 PM at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. honouree of the prestigious International CES Innovations 2007 Design and Engineering Award and winner of Electronic Products Magazine Product of the Year, the XRT and N-Gen fuel cell products provide essential alternative clean power for a variety of power-hungry applications when the grid is either unavailable or unreliable. For example, during the Katrina Hurricane disaster when legacy battery and generator technology failed, Jadoo fuel cell technology was available to power critical emergency radio communications, law enforcement surveillance products, remote satellite phones, modems, walkie-talkies, and laptops.

The N-Gen and XRT provide 100W at 110VAC/12VDC of rugged portable fuel cell power.

utilising Jadoo's patented N-Stor Fuel Cell Canisters, multiple fuel runtime options are available.

The Jadoo N-Stor360 can provide 360W-h (30A-h) of predictable continuous runtime and there is no degradation or memory effect as with standard batteries.

When used with the XRT, N-Stors can deliver upwards of 2200W-h (180A-h) of runtime.

Weighing only 50 pounds, the XRT can deliver the equivalent energy of standard gel-cell batteries that weigh over 150 pounds.

Either system can now be equipped with true UPS functionality - available at anytime the 'grid' power goes down.

'We are very excited to be demonstrating the XRT and N-Gen products at the upcoming ShowStoppers CES show,' said Jack Peterson, VP of Sales and Marketing at Jadoo.

'Our commercial success with this product line is a testament to the Jadoo Power team's commitment to deliver the highest quality, best value fuel cell products available today.

Providing critical power support for emergency preparedness, law enforcement, and other off-grid applications is our company mission and to be recognised for these efforts is outstanding.

Following the recent launch of AdvancedMC Type B+ connectors for AdvancedTCA use, Harting has introduced a set of press-in tools to speed their assembly onto printed circuit boards.

Following the recent launch of the Harting AdvancedMC Type B+ connectors for AdvancedTCA applications, Harting has introduced a set of press-in tools to speed their assembly onto printed circuit boards. The tools are designed for different specifications of connector: both with and without pegs. In addition, the tools can be used with PCBs both with and without the additional mounting fixture option.

The new tools can be used with all Harting manual or pneumatic presses, or with the fully automated CPM press-in machines.

The AdvancedMC Type B+ connector for AdvancedTCA is designed to meet the mechanical and electrical requirements of PICMG (PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group) AMC.0.

The inclusion of the press-in option is scheduled for the next revision of the AMC.0 specification.

Wave soldering system combines proven core subsystem design with all the latest technological developments for lead-free alloys, including spray fluxing and preheat modules.

Production automation specialist, Contax, is announcing the availability of the Speedline Electrovert VectraElite wave soldering system. Following its global launch at Productronica in November 2005, this new machine is now available exclusively from Contax in the UK, Benelux and Ireland. As the next generation of its highly successful Vectra wave soldering system, the VectraElite combines proven core subsystem design with all the latest technological developments for lead-free alloys.

New features include: Optima and ServoJet spray fluxing systems, upper High Velocity Convection (HVC) preheat module, Post Wave Cooling (PWC) module, UltraFill nozzle technology, and a host of system wide improvements such as expanded system wide access, reduced ventilation requirement, and an advanced control system.

* ServoJet and Optima Spray Fluxing Systems - two newly developed advanced spray fluxing systems designed to yield optimum performance for lead-free applications.

The VectraElite benefits from the most advanced reciprocating spray fluxing systems in the industry.

This is due to its combination of the ServoJet, which provides high velocity flux jetting technology with concentric air atomisation and the Optima, which features the latest in Ultra-Spray ultrasonic technology along with its Smart Motion traversing mechanism.

Along with programmable selective spray and self cleaning features, both of these advanced spray fluxing systems provide exceptional deposition uniformity and complete flux penetration of plated-via holes.

* Post Wave Cooling (PWC) Module - this provides accelerated cooling capabilities that in addition to reducing product exit temperatures can also reduce the possibility of fillet lifting often associated with lead-free alloys.

'The new VectraElite offers the very latest in wave soldering technology from Speedline,' said Mike Rapson, managing director at Contax.

'In addition to improved system wide access, a new rollout solder pot design, and an advanced control system, the VectraElite offers a number of unique advanced technologies.' These include UltraFill nozzles, upper High Velocity Convection (HVC) preheat module and its advanced range of spray fluxing systems.

'The VectraElite is the most advanced, high performance wave soldering system available in its class, and ideally suited for today's demanding lead-free applications,' he said.

* About Contax - Contax is one of the UK and Ireland's most comprehensive suppliers of automation equipment.

Products range from PCB assembly, automatic optical and x-ray inspection, reflow solder, screen printing, precision liquid dispensing, cable preparation, robotic soldering and robotic assembly as well as cleaning systems.

All of this is backed up by Contax's unique support programme called 'hands-on' and an extensive second user department to fully support their installed base.

A global supplier of printed circuit boards use world class operational management to provide customers with on-time delivery and quality engineering into every process.

GSPK Circuits, situated in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, UK, are pleased to announce the launch of its new website. The company; a global supplier of printed circuit boards (PCBs), operate a manufacturing division based at the GSPK Technology Park on Manse Lane. GSPK Circuits have been supplying the global electronics industry with PCBs for more than 40 years and utilise world class operational management to provide customers with on-time delivery and quality engineering into every process.

The incorporation of lean manufacturing across all departments, increasing effectiveness and efficiency has enabled the company to successfully differentiate itself within the market place.

The company's growing success has resulted in the need to establish a website to clearly communicate GSPK Circuit's success and ongoing achievements.

The company enlisted the help of local web-designers Extreme Creations, based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire who worked alongside the GSPK Circuits team to create a website which truly reflects the company's vision.

Providing detailed information about the company's background, technical capabilities and services available, as well as regularly updated news items and case studies; the website makes an interesting read.

Steve Lloyd, managing director for GSPK Circuits, said: 'The website is well worth a visit and will assist us in gaining greater brand awareness for GSPK Circuits '.

'Having been carefully designed, the website reflects the company's growing success and is a useful tool for keeping existing customers up-to-date and offering potential business opportunities to new customers.' Lloyd continued: 'With the new website comes the potential to form partnerships with other like-minded companies, something we fully support and are keen to pursue.'

Provider of embedded functional test and diagnostics capabilities for board bring-up, manufacturing test and power-on self test, supports AMCC's PowerPC 405EZ networked industrial processor.

Kozio, the leading provider of advanced embedded functional test and diagnostics capabilities ideally suited for board bring-up, manufacturing test and power-on self test, today announced support for AMCC's new PowerPC 405EZ networked industrial processor. The 405EZ is the first in AMCC's family of high-performance networked industrial processors. Kozio will offer a turnkey diagnostics package for hardware test and debug solutions for custom 405EZ-based boards, giving product designers a complete diagnostics solution in two weeks that will save development effort, board bring-up, and production testing time.

'We use Kozio's diagnostic software internally to accelerate our validation of new PowerPC processors', said Pini Herman, senior manager of Hardware Development at AMCC.

'We have found the kDiagnostics package invaluable in allowing us to quickly debug our validation hardware and thereby minimize the bring-up time for new SoCs.

We are delighted that Kozio has announced support for the 405EZ processor and look forward to using their tools as we debug this new product.' Replying: 'We see more and more companies turning to 32-bit SoCs to replace their 8-bit and 16-bit MCUs and Kozio is providing an excellent set of software tools to help with this transition,' stated Joseph Skazinski, president of Kozio.

'Our turnkey hardware test products provide clear value as customers design and manufacture new products incorporating 32-bit processors such as AMCC's 405EZ PowerPC processor.' The shift to 32-bit processors is being driven by industrial controller applications that require the increased computing power of 32-bit SoCs to handle the additional tasks of networked communications, more sophisticated algorithms and more complete operating systems.

32-bit processors continue to drop in price, and in some cases their cost is lower than traditional 16-bit MCUs.

Kozio's diagnostics software kDiagnostics, kManufacturing, kPOST and kField provide a full board test report within minutes of running the software.

Kozio's turnkey diagnostics package includes pre-verified test suites for analog and digital peripherals, timers, IEEE 1588 Fast Ethernet, USB, CAN, comprehensive memory test suites for SRAM , and CellularRAM, and support for the 64-bit on chip-bus.

The package also includes full Flash memory capabilities as well as detection and testing of peripherals.

Evaluation versions of kDiagnostics are now available.

Kozio continues to partner with AMCC to provide complete support for their newest processors, including the PowerPC 405EZ, the first of a family of high-performance, low-power-consumption solutions for SoCs.

Kozio will be ready to support the 405EZ product developers when the chips are available, and will deliver turnkey diagnostics for custom boards to customers using the AMCC PowerPC 405EZ within two weeks after a purchase order is issued.

Components tested include the PowerPC 405EZ, SRAM, CellularRAM, GPIO, 12C, IEEE 1588 Ethernet, USB USB 2.0, two CAN 2.ob ports.

10-bit ADC, 10-bit DAC, PWM, Flash memory.

This list is adjusted for custom boards based on a product's block diagram.

* Benefits of using Kozio products - by providing proven test software at the earliest stage of processor-board development, Kozio shortens the product development cycle, saving customers time and money.

Kozio uses a suite of hardware tests that are pre-verified.

By using existing processor validation boards, reference processor-boards, and adapters to test out our hardware diagnostics before they are delivered to customers, Kozio has had great customer success in delivering ready-to-run self-booting embedded test software.

All that is required is the board schematic, not the hardware itself.

The same test suites are available in turnkey packages for production test and to ship with the final product.

* About Kozio - Kozio is the leader in embedded test solutions for today's electronic products.

Kozio delivers turnkey software that provides a comprehensive suite of hardware diagnostics used for debugging and testing custom boards implementing processors from AMCC, ARM, IBM, Intel, Freescale, TI or MIPS.

Kozio's clients build state-of-the-art products where successful use of the newest technologies with shortened development cycles requires them to constantly innovate to stay ahead of their competition.

Kozio software improves test methodologies and streamlines the development process with proven solutions for board bring-up diagnostics, manufacturing test, environmental test, power-on self-test, in-field diagnostics and returns testing.

By delivering thorough software diagnostics ahead of the hardware, Kozio reduces project schedule risk and development costs while increasing test coverage.

Headquartered in Longmont, Colorado, Kozio products are available through a direct sales force and worldwide distributors.

* About AMCC - AMCC is a global leader in network and embedded PowerPC processing, optical transport and storage solutions.

AMCC products enable the development of converged IP-based networks offering high-speed secure data, high-definition video and high-quality voice for carrier, metropolitan, access and enterprise applications.

AMCC provides networking equipment vendors with industry-leading network and communications processing, Ethernet, SONET and switch fabric solutions.

AMCC is also the leading vendor of high-port count SATA RAID controllers enabling low-cost, high-performance, high-capacity storage.

AMCC's corporate headquarters are located in Sunnyvale, California, USA.

Sales and engineering offices are located throughout the world.

A production assembly equipment company has made a series of enhancements that optimise existing soldering systems for a simple, cost-effective transition to lead-free soldering.

With the introduction of ROHS legislation in July this year, soldering will undergo considerable changes. Not surprisingly, electronics manufacturers the world over are reviewing their processes and identifying the equipment, materials and procedures that will be compatible with the higher temperatures and narrower processing windows that are associated with lead-free production. As a leading manufacturer of Production Assembly Equipment worldwide, OK International has supplied countless soldering systems to its clients over the years; systems that are known for their reliability, robustness and longevity; systems that are perfect for lead-free manufacture even though they have been in use in the industry for years.

With this in mind, and with the clear intention to protect its customers from added investments where none are needed, OK International has developed a series of cost-effective enhancements for its Metcal MX-500 and SP200 soldering systems that optimise them for lead-free manufacture.

The first of these is a range of new SmartHeat PowerTips for the Metcal MX-500 system.

Specifically designed for lead-free applications, these tips provide the highest thermal performance possible, allowing the user to solder even the most demanding joint without heat damage.

OK International's european product manager Craig Brown explained: 'If you simply turn up the temperature, you risk burning off the flux and ending up with an insufficient joint.

Instead, we have developed a series of tips that are extremely efficient in transferring more energy to the joint.' The company found that different solder tip geometries allow different amounts of energy to flow to the solder joint.

Calculated mathematically using its length, width and shape, each solder tip's 'Conductivity Factor' indicates how efficient it is in conducting this energy - the higher the number, the more efficient the tip.

'By using this Conductivity Factor we have designed our tips for improved thermal performance, enabling us to keep our source temperatures constant while meeting the needs of lead-free soldering.

This is a first for our industry,' added Brown.

Based on its 10 most popular tip geometries, OK International has introduced a range of seven SmartHeat PowerTips for use with existing Metcal MX-500 systems.

It plans to add new geometries as lead-free manufacture takes hold.

For the Metcal SP200 soldering system, the company has taken a different approach: here the cartridges have been upgraded with a new high-power coil assembly that delivers additional power to lead-free solder joints; again, with no need for increased source temperatures.

Both systems use OK International's powerful SmartHeat technology to ensure that the solder joint being reflowed receives exactly the energy required.

This eliminates the risk of heat damage and allows the solder tip to work at lower temperatures for a longer useful life.

Working life can be extended still further thanks to OK International's Auto Sleep Stand.

In conjunction with SmartHeat technology, this interrupts the energy flow to the solder tip the instant the hand-piece enters the cradle, reducing tip temperature to a minimum idling level as it rests in the stand.

This reduces the oxidisation that can be a problem with higher temperature lead-free solders and fluxes, and this can be further reduced with the help of the stand's special brass wire wool cleaning compartment.

In addition, tip temperature returns to optimum working levels within a second of the hand-piece being removed from the stand, so no working time is lost.

A further issue in moving to lead-free manufacture is contamination between lead-containing and lead-free solders.

As Brown explained: 'The two principal problem areas are the stand and the tips: the stand contains waste solder that has dripped from the tip and the hand piece can be used with any tip, so it is important to know which stand and which hand piece are being used with which solder.' OK International has introduced two simple but effective accessories that clearly identify lead-free equipment: first, a green cradle that can be inserted into the Auto Sleep Stand; and second, green lead-free identification rings that can be slipped onto soldering tips and cartridges.

These accessories can be used with any of OK International's soldering systems.

OK International's series of SmartHeat PowerTips, enhanced SP200 tip cartridges, Auto Sleep Stand and the green lead-free identification cradle and rings all offer clear evidence of OK International's deep understanding of its customers' needs and its dedication to ensuring that they get the most out of their investments in the electronics manufacturing workbench.

All equipment and accessories are available through OK International and its global distribution network.

Solder paste squeegees are infused with polymer lubricant, which significantly reduces friction and stencil wear when using silver and tin solder alloys in all kinds of stencil printer.

In the July 1st switch-over to lead-free soldering, Intertronics have been a leading light in supply of related products to ensure compliance and improve efficiency. Their Permalex squeegees are infused with polymer lubricant, which significantly reduces friction and stencil wear when using silver and tin solder alloys in all kinds of stencil printer. These pastes are both more abrasive than the outgoing leaded solder paste, so all pcb manufacturers/assemblers will be pleased to find that Permalex squeegees are a long-lived solution which can eliminate the sticking typically seen with standard metal squeegees and greatly improve the quality of their stencil printing process.

Permalex metal squeegees feature a unique base alloy with a multi-step metallurgical bonding process which results in a smooth, hard, low friction edge designed to prevent stencil wear.

This eliminates scavenging and improves solder paste deposition, while reducing stencil pulling and stretching, thus improving pad registration and stencil life.

Ensuring a product remains electrically safe - John Barnett explains how technical advances ensure the effective production line use of electrical flash/hi pot/dielectric withstand testing.

The terms flash test, hipot and dielectric withstand test all relate to the same fundamental test and describe the process for ensuring that a product remains electrically safe when subjected to a high voltage, or to check for any signs of damage or poor quality of the basic insulation of a product. A high voltage can occur when transients are present on the power supply. In such circumstances the product must not expose the user to a hazardous voltage.

Poor or damaged insulation can also occur during construction, particularly if wires are trapped within the chassis or case of a product.

This test is therefore designed to stress the product's insulation and ensure that there are no defects in the construction and that internal wiring and conductor spacing is correct.

If the test is omitted, then a product with poor insulation or internal conductor spacing, may fail under the influence of environmental factors such as ingress of moisture, dirt, or the effect of vibration.

These defects cannot be consistently detected by any other electrical safety test.

* Test standards - legislation such as the Low voltage directive, machinery and medical devices directives demand that all manufactured products are subjected to this fundamental electrical safety test.

In addition a number of independent and government product approvals agencies require that this test is performed, and that records are kept for each product design, and for each product manufactured, before their approvals mark can be displayed on the product.

Within the European marketplace these directives must be obeyed for a product to comply with the CE mark regulation.

The view that this type of test is essentially destructive is often an area for discussion.

This view originates from the use of this test in laboratory type testing, where the long applied test time may degrade the insulation, resulting in ionisation and potentially destructive breakdown.

However in terms of production line testing the short (less than two second) applied test time and 5mA trip setting effectively reduces this risk.

Applying a DC insulation test immediately after this test will provides a means of ensuring that the insulation has not been degraded.

The flash/hipot test itself can be used to take quantative measurements for process control, but the pass and fail criteria are that a breakdown must not occur, or that typically 5mA of leakage must not flow in the test circuit.

In certain exceptions this leakage can be increased where it can be demonstrated that a good product has high leakage due to the inclusion of devices such as line filtering capacitors within the design.

* Testing times - routine testing on the production line invariably demands high product throughput and is often carried out by relatively low skilled test operators.

Factors such as these bring specific demands in terms of reducing the overall test time burden and the safety implications of installing a high voltage test area within the production environment.

Modern flash/hipot testing systems have been developed that utilise a 10% higher voltage than would be applied during a type test, but for a much reduced test time of a few seconds.

It is also recommended that the leakage current limit is reduced to 5mA to maximise operator safety and the majority of product routine testing standards has adopted this approach, and to ensure that if a product fails, that destructive damage is avoided.

In addition other new techniques have been introduced to address other issues over production line throughput.

For example, it is usual to precede the flash test with a phase to neutral continuity test to ensure that the product is switched on.

This eliminates the possibility of incorrect testing - since all circuits must be connected to the supply during the test.

For the same reason, lower leakage trip levels can also be that are set just below the normal level measured for a batch of good product, when tested with the supply switched on.

The test will then record a fail condition if the product is tested with the supply not switched on.

* Operator safety - in terms of operator safety, the introduction of the EN50191 standard - A Guide for the Erection and Operation of Electrical Test Installations - sets out requirements for defined test areas in accordance with various safety measures - particularly where high voltage testing is to be used.

By employing arc detection and leakage trips, sensitive electronic equipment can also now be safely tested in a non-destructive way.

For example, low levels of leakage can be safely detected with the new digital era of test equipment, allowing sensitive electronic components and PCBs to be tested, and reworked if necessary as part of the production line process.

Other special techniques are also available for the safe testing of Class II double insulated products and for products that have high levels of AC leakage which may be fitted with line filters or suppression capacitors.

This can be achieved by using a higher DC test voltage, but incorporating a bespoke design of test enclosure system with user interlock or special 'test nests' to house the product under test.

Another technical advance has been the development of test systems for newly emerging smart electronic and electrical products that utilise circuits that are not electrically connected to the supply, unless powered.

Mostly found in microprocessor controlled intelligent products.

To overcome such problems a technique known as quadrature testing has been introduced which performs the test whilst the product is fully energised and operational from an isolated supply.

In this way all secondary circuits and conductors are connected to the product supply terminals during the application of the test voltage.

This technique is becoming very common due to the inclusion of microcontrollers in the modern consumer products such as ovens, washing machines, tumble dryers and AV and IT products.

Technical developments such as these have ensured that modern flash/hipot testing systems continue to enable manufacturers to meet their product compliance standards and that the tests can be applied safely without any disruption to fast moving efficient production lines.

* About the author - John Barnett is with Clare Instruments.

Lead-free use has exacerbated the need to distinguish between solderability and 'soldering ability' tests to maintain integrity of electronic assemblies, writes Graham Naisbitt.

Graham Naisbitt, has called attention to the need for manufacturers to draw a clear distinction between solderability - a quantitative measurement of how well molten solder wets component joints and PCB pads indicating the robustness of the surface finish - and soldering ability - a term used to describe how well a specific combination of flux and solder work together to solder a component to a PCB. While this is not a new problem, it has become more critical as lead-free solder becomes the norm after the EU's Restriction of hazardous substances (RoHS) deadline and the release of updated International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and Association Connecting Electronics Industries (IPC) soldering standards. Previously, manufacturers using tin/lead alloys could compensate for poor solderability by tuning the soldering process - thus improving the soldering ability of the assembly.

However, this is no longer an option for lead-free solder because it is a much less forgiving process.

Consequently it is now critically important for manufacturers of high reliability electronics to determine the solderability of components and PCBs prior to assembly.

Solderability testing now needs a much higher level of precision, repeatability and reproducibility to take account of unforgiving nature of the high tin content alloys that have been recommended by IEC and IPC.

While tweaking the soldering process might have been acceptable to overcome poor solderability and improve soldering ability for some assemblies using familiar lead alloys, it just won't work with lead-free solder alloys - particularly in no-clean processes.

Unreliable solder joints would be almost inevitable.

Assemblers need to know for sure that they are using boards and components of known acceptable solderability that will always solder satisfactorily in their established and optimised process without any form of tweaking or adjustment.

The higher soldering temperatures and thermal issues of lead-free allied with unproven on-board electrochemical and contamination reactions between various other process chemistries are just too complex and poorly understood to let the soldering process be changed at will.

After extensive soldering analysis involving 30,000 individual tests, imminent new IPC standards recognise that wetting balance force measurement and globule testing is better than traditional 'dip-and-look' manual judgements for quantitatively determining solderability to the precision required so that adjustment to the soldering process becomes unnecessary.

The main problem with the traditional dip-and-look technique - which is highly popular, quick and inexpensive - is its lack of adequate Gauge Repeatability and Reproducibility (or Gauge R and R for short).

This is a measure of how repeatable and reproducible tests are when performed by different people at different times.

According to the IPC: 'Users who believe that the 'dip-and-look' methodology has a respectable Gauge RandR would be in for an extreme shock'.

'The IPC committees have also voted that no new solderability test methods will be introduced into the standards without a demonstrated, industry acceptable Gauge R and R value.' The IEC recommends wetting balance force measurement and globule testing and we are attempting to harmonise standards documents, to provide acceptable Gauge RandR to its defined methodology.

Defining new test methods is critical because the reliability of electronics hinges on the performance of the solder.

There are compelling environmental reasons for switching to lead-free solder alloys.

Unfortunately this does mean changing from tried and trusted tin/lead alloys to alternatives that have not been subject to such intense performance analysis.

Consumers might not feel so comfortable about moving less tried and tested alloys if their lives are reliant on it, for example, if they are a passenger on a large aircraft.

Our mission is to reduce, or if possible remove, all doubt; but that will not be a trivial task.

Gen3 Systems manufactures the Must System Solderability Tester for wetting balance force measurement and globule testing.

The equipment is ideal for both tin/lead and lead-free alloy testing and has been used by the industry for many years.

The company has also produced a lead-free bath and globule set and lead-free accessories kit to allow existing Must Solderability Tester owners continuing use of their equipment.

To support the transition to lead-free alloys, new standards for the MUST Solderability Tester (IPC-J-STD 002 and 003) and its award winning Auto-SIR (IPC 9201A SIR Handbook and IPC-TM-650, 2.6.3.7) are due to be published during the (northern) summer.

* The transition to lead-free solder - the electronics industry has grown up with tin/lead solder.

The IEC defines these alloys as Sn60Pb40A, Sn63Pb37A or Sn62Pb36Ag02B.

Over four decades the long-term performance of tin/lead alloys has been intensely studied.

The IEC and IPC have issued comprehensive documentation, standards and test methodologies that allow manufacturers to ascertain the reliability of their electronics assemblies.

Lead is now banned from electronics assemblies and intended for sale in the EU.

Legislation of a similar nature is likely to be introduced in Japan, California and China.

Both IEC and IPC committees are working hard to try and ensure that revisions to the existing standards are published as quickly as possible, but neither group will have published documents until late 2006.

However, both the IEC and IPC are recommending high tin alloys as the best replacements for tin/lead.

Specifically, the IEC stated: 'The preferred alloy composition should be either Sn96.5Ag3.0Cu0.5 or Sn99.3Cu0.7'.

'An alloy consisting of 3-4% Ag and 0.5-1% Cu with the remainder made up of Sn may also be used instead of Sn96.5Ag3.0Cu0.5'.

'A solder alloys comprising 0.45-0.9% Cu with the remainder made up of Sn may be used instead of Sn99.3Cu0.7.' IPC stated: 'The solder composition shall be tin (Sn)96.5 silver (Ag)3.0 copper (Cu)0.5 (SAC305) as defined by J-STD-006'.

The IPC does allow other lead-free solder alloys if agreed between user and vendor.

High tin alloys have not been as well characterised as traditional tin/lead solders.

While the IEC and IPC have been rapidly assimilating data on the long-term performance of lead-free alloys it will be some time before comprehensive information is available.

Accordingly, both the IEC and IPC are defining thorough testing regimes - with acceptable Gauge R and R - for manufacturers whose products will be used in safety critical applications.

* About Gen3 Systems - Gen3 Systems is dedicated to tackling the demanding electronics reliability challenges of lead-free assembly and further electronics miniaturisation.

The company is a specialist manufacturer of test and measurement equipment used to predict the reliability of electronic circuits and systems in the field.

In addition, the company designs and manufactures conformal coating process equipment in both in-line and bench-top formats.

Naisbitt is a member of the IEC's TC91 WG3, the working group that formulates test standards for the assembly industry.

Naisbitt is also leader of Solderability Testing Standard IEC 60068-2-69, co-leader of Solderability Testing Standard IEC 60068-2-54, and member of IPC-J-STD 002 and IPC-J-STD 003.

Gen3 Systems is founded on the former Concoat Systems.

Concoat Systems and its company slogan 'Engineering Reliability in Electronics' (which has been retained by Gen3 Systems) was a familiar name in Europe, Asia and much of North America.

The new company was launched by its family owners after former sister company Concoat was sold to US firm Chase Corporation in 2005.

Gen3 Systems operates from new premises near Farnborough Business Park, on the M3 corridor and just 30 minutes from London's Heathrow Airport, UK.

The company has an entirely new management team focused on the needs and requirements of its customers around the world.

Gen3 Systems also provides training, equipment and expertise for manufacturers requiring assessment of their electronic products' reliability.

The company also assists with standards development via both the IPC and IEC.

The company's product range and services include the following.

Autosir Surface Insulation Resistance Testing System.

Must System2+ Solderability Testing System.

Soldapro Thermal Profilers.

CMseries Cleanliness Testing Systems.

SCseries Spray Conformal Coating Systems, batch and in-line.

DCseries Dip Conformal Coating Systems, batch and in-line.

Testservices for Circuit Reliability, Solderability and Cleanliness.

* About the author - Graham Naisbitt is managing director of Gen3 Systems.

Jadoo Power Systems has announced it will be showcasing its award-winning XRT and N-Gen fuel cell product lineup at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Jadoo Power Systems has announced it will be showcasing its award-winning XRT and N-Gen fuel cell product lineup at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) during ShowStoppers CES 2007 on Monday, January 8, 2007 at 6:00 PM at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. honouree of the prestigious International CES Innovations 2007 Design and Engineering Award and winner of Electronic Products Magazine Product of the Year, the XRT and N-Gen fuel cell products provide essential alternative clean power for a variety of power-hungry applications when the grid is either unavailable or unreliable. For example, during the Katrina Hurricane disaster when legacy battery and generator technology failed, Jadoo fuel cell technology was available to power critical emergency radio communications, law enforcement surveillance products, remote satellite phones, modems, walkie-talkies, and laptops.

The N-Gen and XRT provide 100W at 110VAC/12VDC of rugged portable fuel cell power.

utilising Jadoo's patented N-Stor Fuel Cell Canisters, multiple fuel runtime options are available.

The Jadoo N-Stor360 can provide 360W-h (30A-h) of predictable continuous runtime and there is no degradation or memory effect as with standard batteries.

When used with the XRT, N-Stors can deliver upwards of 2200W-h (180A-h) of runtime.

Weighing only 50 pounds, the XRT can deliver the equivalent energy of standard gel-cell batteries that weigh over 150 pounds.

Either system can now be equipped with true UPS functionality - available at anytime the 'grid' power goes down.

'We are very excited to be demonstrating the XRT and N-Gen products at the upcoming ShowStoppers CES show,' said Jack Peterson, VP of Sales and Marketing at Jadoo.

'Our commercial success with this product line is a testament to the Jadoo Power team's commitment to deliver the highest quality, best value fuel cell products available today.

Providing critical power support for emergency preparedness, law enforcement, and other off-grid applications is our company mission and to be recognised for these efforts is outstanding.