Electrical safety tests go on the line
A
Clare Instruments product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Dec 2, 2004
The installation of production line electrical safety testing systems has helped the UK's leading manufacturer of range-style cookers to upgrade its manufacturing operations and improve quality.
The installation of advanced technology production line electrical safety testing systems has helped the UK's leading manufacturer of range style cookers to successfully upgrade its manufacturing operations and improve product quality.
Safety testing specialist Clare Instruments is a long-standing supplier of electrical safety testing equipment to Rangemaster, part of the A Foodservice Group.
Rangemaster produces premium quality range style domestic and professional A cookers at design and manufacturing facilities in Leamington Spa.
As part of a recent restructuring of its corporate, sales and manufacturing strategies, Rangemaster has been involved in a number of changes to enable it to concentrate on high margin premium products with innovative design features.
As part of these changes Rangemaster has undergone a complete reshaping of its manufacturing operations.
This involved the redesign of production line layouts and processes aimed at improving productivity and manufacturing efficiencies.
The changes involved a number of modifications to the electrical safety testing processes that ensure that all products leave the production line in a safe, top quality condition.
In upgrading its production lines Rangemaster stipulated that the electrical test process must be capable of being undertaken by all manufacturing staff, would be appropriate for all products and that the test stations must comply with EN50191 guidelines to minimise any potential risks of electrocution or electric shock.
For quality assurance purposes, a failsafe electrical testing process was required that would not allow any untested cookers to be despatched to customers.
This was particularly important in terms of maintaining product quality and reducing potential warranty claims.
In providing a test solution to these specifications, Clare supplied and installed seven electrical safety testing stations, onto four production lines.
The test instruments provided are capable of being programmed to perform a dedicated test sequence for each product group.
With this system, the production operator is only required to connect a bespoke test head (designed by Clare) to the back of the cooker, select the product group type, and the test instrument performs the tests automatically.
As a safety measure, the test head incorporates safety sensors that inhibit testing unless it is correctly attached.
The operator then concurrently pushes two safety switches to run the test sequence.
In addition to electrical safety tests, the new test system has been configured to perform actual functional run tests on each circuit (element) within the cookers.
The result is that every product is now 100% tested in every mode and the new test configuration enables all products, whether they are destined for domestic or professional markets in the UK or abroad, to be tested by the same test procedure on any production line.
This has assisted the company to easily ramp-up production for individual product ranges to meet market demand.
In addition, with the higher level of product quality checks, Rangemaster reports that the number of warranty returns linked to product build errors have been significantly reduced.
In addition to the advanced production line test stations, Clare has also installed two bespoke systems to test the load current balance of the company's three-phase German ILC model.
The tests specified involved measuring the actual load currents in each phase, and then calculating the expected current if the product were run from a stabilised supply.
The advantage of this systems is that is eliminates the need for a very large and expensive three-phase stabilised supply.
The bespoke test systems were supplied as a complete package, including all the necessary parts to enable the test operators to conduct the tests within the guidance of EN50191.
The load tests are carried out after the electrical safety tests and had to be compatible with the test head connections used.
The test equipment is mobile, so that it may be moved between the production lines, dependent on demand.
With the verification of performance and safe operation of electrical products being absolutely vital in both product conformance and quality assurance terms, integrated production line safety testing has become an essential part of the electrical product manufacturing process - as the experience of Rangemaster shows.
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