Welcome to the EMC Zone, an avenue for discussion on the current issues affecting today’s EMC industry.
This inaugural posting concerns a hot topic in the industry – the current state of revision to Medical Standard 60101, specifically as regards proposed changes to the RF immunity stress levels / test-bands.
At last year’s Long Beach symposium, the word around the water cooler was that the committee could not decide on the proposed changes to ‘Electromagnetic disturbances – requirements and tests’ (Part 1-2 of the standard). We will focus on the changes involving increased RF immunity stress levels (30v/m field strength proposed at some frequencies), and on the extension of the upper test frequency (6GHz proposed).
We can hazard a guess at the main bone of contention in this revision from Edition 3 to Edition 4, – the cost of implementation, both for the manufacturer whose products must comply, and for the test house that needs to upgrade its test facility.
Standards sub-committees are commercially aware, usually helped by one or more of the team being industry representatives. As a result, where justified, you will see steps to ameliorate the total test-time implemented in the revision.
This does not help a test house where a significant investment in more powerful test equipment is required regardless of test-time.
To put things into perspective, next week’s post will do the math on the upgrade costs faced, and will suggest ways of reducing those costs.
Do you have a point of view on this? If so, please comment below or email [email protected]
–Thomas Mullineaux
