The Technical Seminar on Product Testing and Certification was held on 26 March 2011. The seminar was jointly organized by Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management of City University of Hong Kong (MEEM, CityUHK), Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering Section (MIES), The IET Hong Kong, The Institute of Measurement and Control - Hong Kong Section (InstMC(HK)) and The IEEE, Product Safety Engineering Society (PSES), Hong Kong Chapter. Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) and Hong Kong Association for Testing, Inspection and Certification (HKTIC) were supporting organization.
The seminar aims to introduce the development of product testing and certification in Hong Kong to the participants. The summary was shown below.
In the beginning, Prof. Xi Ning (Head & Chair Professor, MEEM of CityU) gave a welcoming and opening speech. He mentioned the importance of testing, certification and quality in Hong Kong and then he introduced the new program entitled BEng Total Quality Engineering (BETQE) which fit the demand in the industry.
The first speaker team was come from Standards and Calibration Laboratory (SCL). They were Ir. Brenda Lam (Electronics Engineer - Direct Current & High Voltage Laboratory), Ir. Johnny Poon (Electronics Engineer - Low Frequency and Acoustics Laboratory) and Ir. Julian Cheung (Electronics Engineer - Temperature and Humidity Laboratory). Their topic entitled "Measurement Traceability & Role of Standards and Calibration Laboratory (SCL)".
Firstly, Ir. Brenda Lam introduced the measurement traceability. She said that measurement accuracy was based on uncertainty and measurement consistency was based on traceability.
Then Ir. Lam briefed the six elements of traceability.
The measurement uncertainty and traceability should be agreed by intergovernmental organization through International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM).
The comparison between different international organizations was performed regularly.
Ir. Lam described the definition of SI base units which approved by General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM). They were:
l Meter (Unit of length): The meter is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299792458 of a second
l Kilogram (Unit of mass): It is equal to the mass of the international prototype of the kilogram.
l Second (Unit of time): The second is the duration of 9192631770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom.
l Ampere (Unit of electric current): The ampere is that constant current which, if maintained in two straight parallel conductors of infinite length, of negligible circular cross-section, and placed 1 meter apart in vacuum, would produce between these conductors a force equal to 2 x 10-7 newton per meter of length
l Kelvin (Unit of thermodynamic temperature): It is the fraction 1/273.16 of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water.
l Mole (Unit of amount of substance): The mole is the amount of substance of a system which contains as many elementary entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kilogram of carbon 12; its symbol is "mol".
l Candela (Unit of luminous intensity): The candela is the luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency 540x1012 hertz and that has a radiat intensity in that direction of 1/683 watt per steradian.
The SI base units derived different units called "SI Derived Units".
Secondly, Ir. Johnny Poon introduced seven laboratories in SCL. They were:
l Direct Current & High Voltage Laboratory
l Low Frequency and Acoustics Laboratory
l Radio Frequency and Microwave Laboratory
l Temperature and Humidity Laboratory
l Dimension Laboratory
l Mass & Related Laboratory
l Force Laboratory
Then Ir. Poon stated how to realize the SI base unit in their laboratories.
For length, they used Iodine Stabilized Helium - Neon Laser.
For mass, reference mass "Copy No. 75" was used.
For time, Caesium beam frequency standard was employed.
For temperature, triple point water cells was used for practical realization, where water triple point is 0.01 degree of Census.
For current, they measured in terms of voltage and resistance using Josephson array voltage standard and Quantised hall effect resistance standard.
Last SCL team member Ir. Julian Cheung introduced some new calibration services in SCL from 2009 to 2011. The new services included magnetism, electricity, acoustic, temperature and humidity, etc.
The second speaker was Dr. Canny Kwan (Engineer - Material Analysis Laboratory and Solar Energy Technology Support Centre, HKSTPC) and her presentation named "Solar Panel Test".
Dr. Kwan introduced different testing requirement in Solar Panel.
The test condition and definition were described.
Some key equipments in HKSTPC which matched the standard requirement were mentioned such as Solar Simulator System.
The sample (PV thin film) structure was explained.
The requirement of PV thin film test standard ISO/IEC 61646 were briefed. 8 modules were needed for one test.
The major equipment for this standard and its criteria were mentioned.
Nevertheless, other R&D equipment for PV thin film evaluation was also introduced such as Raman microscope and Quantum efficiency measurement system, etc.
Lastly, Dr. Kwan said a seminar called "Quantum Efficiency Measurement in Solar Cells" would be held on 31 Mar 2011 in HKSTPC. (More information: http://www.hkstp.org/HKSTPC/download/news/Flyer_QE_seminar_v320110317164812.pdf)
Before the tea break, membership drives were held by InstMC(HK), PSES(IEEE) and IET(HK).
Ir. M.K. Lam introduced The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) - Hong Kong.
InstMC(HK) was introduced by Ir. S.L. Mak.
Mr. Wilson Luk introduced IEEE - PSES Hong Kong Chapter.
After the tea break, Ms. Sammi Cheng (Laboratory Manager - Forte Testing and Consultants Co., Ltd.) was the third speaker and her topic was "Fire Door and Fire Test". The content was included overview of passive fire product (PFP), timber fire doors and fire testing.
PFP included "Wall and floor", "Lift landing door", "Door and shutter", "Ventilation duct and shaft" and "Damper", etc. Ms. Cheng said "They are 'PASSIVE' until there is a fire and only then will they fire performance in-situ be demonstrated."
The common timber fire door was showed.
Major considerations of Timber Fire Door were discussed.
The integrity failure situation during fire was mentioned.
Different parts of door were also mentioned. These parts could be a weak point for integrity failure.
Some fire testing criteria were stated. It was based on BS 476-20:1987.
Then Ms. Cheng explained why failure.
The real fire testing photos were shared.
Lastly, Ms. Cheng concluded that fire products aimed to protect lives and properties and she expected to extend the test result to a product line.
The last speaker was Mr. Raymond Cheung (Chief Executive - Hong Kong Certification Services Limited) and his presentation was "Product Certification Model and its Application".
Firstly, Mr. Cheung clarifed the definition of Product Certification System and Product Certification Scheme based on ISO/IEC Guide 67:2004.
Then, he discussed relevant international documents for Product Certification below.
- ISO/IEC Guide 67:2004
- ISO/IEC Guide 65:1996
- ISO/IEC Guide 28:2004
- ISO/IEC Guide 53:2005
- ISO/IEC 17030:2003
- ISO/IEC 17020:1998
- ISO/IEC 17025:2005
- ISO/IEC 17000:2004
After that, the model of product certification was introduced. It incorporated three functional stages:
l Selection (sampling)
l Determination and review
l Attestation (decision)
He shared the four step of establishing a Product Scheme.
Step 1 – Determine the market need
Step 2 – Consider alternative approaches
Step 3 – Determine crucial characteristics
Step 4 – Establish the product scheme
I am honour to be invited to chair the Q&A session.
Some participants questioned if product test recognized worldwide and what was the different between CB systems and our certification schemes.
During reply the questions from seminar participants, Mr. K.W. Chen (Senior Accreditation Officer, HKAS) was invited to share his view.
Souvenir presentation:
SCL team (Ir. Julian Cheung, Ir. Johnny Poon and Ir. Brenda Lam)
Dr. Canny Kwan
Ms. Sammi Cheng
Mr. Raymond Cheung
Ir. Dr. Lotto Lai (HKSQ)
After the souvenir presentation, Ir. Andrew C.Y. Cheng (Chairman of MIE section of IET) gave a closing remark.
Group photos were taken.
Reference:
IET (HK) - http://www.iee.org.hk/iee/eng/main/home.jsp
InstMC(HK) - http://www.instmc.org.hk/
PSES (IEEE-HK) - http://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pses/Chapters/
HKSQ - http://www.hksq.org/index.asp
HKTIC - http://www.hktic.org/
BEng Total Quality Engineering (BETQE) - http://www.cityu.edu.hk/me/prg-betqe.htm
SCL - http://www.itc.gov.hk/en/quality/scl/about.htm
HKSTP Lab - http://lab.hkstp.org/default2.asp
Forte Testing and Consultants Co., Ltd. - http://www.itc.gov.hk/en/quality/hkas/doc/hoklas/191.pdf
Hong Kong Certification Services Limited - http://www.hkcsltd.com/
