F2 Labs performs safety evaluations & testing, EMC testing, and consulting for various compliance related issues faced by our customers.
We open safety evaluations at F2 Labs by sending a list of information we need in order to review the equipment. This is because there are really two aspects to a safety evaluation –
- Constructional Review
- Testing
The Constructional Review will be dictated by the safety standard or standards used to evaluate your equipment. Typically this means that your equipment must be assembled with components that are both suitably approved and rated to work with each other. We will need a list of what are considered critical components to do this. The assigned engineer then researches each part by model number to ensure it is safe to use in your product, as indicated in the applicable standard(s).
Very often we are asked, “what is a critical component?” Basically, it is anything on the main electrical circuit, or that serves a critical role or safety function. An indicative list is below:
- Motors
- Power supply
- Fuses & circuit breakers
- Connectors, switches, cords
- Transformers
- LED’s
- Solenoids
- Line Filters
- Fans
- Overcurrent protection
- E-stops
- Enclosure material
- Batteries
We will also need:
- Labels (label material and a copy of the wording on the label(s))
- Manuals
- Electrical schematics
Engineering stresses this point though: give us a list of what you think should be on the critical component list. This list is meant to start the conversation with our engineers. We will ask for information on other components if we need it. So, in other words, it does not have to be notarized and completely accurate – it is meant to be a starting point for for our evaluation.
We can be contacted via this link. We can be reached by phone at 877-405-1580 and are here to help you.
F2 Labs is here to help.