The event, sponsored by the IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society, included social events for networking opportunities, an exhibitor’s hall, three days of peer-reviewed paper presentations, and a technical program that included meetings, workshops, demonstrations, experiments and IEEE Society awards. NW EMC staff enjoyed the opportunity to learn about emerging trends in testing, current testing requirements and new methodologies as well as a chance for networking with their industry peers during the exhibitors’ expo.

The show highlights included conference technical papers on topics covering automotive component testing and radiated emissions measurements between 3m or 5m to 10m test distances, along with the NVLAP assessor training session. Northwest EMC took great interest in the automotive component testing technical paper since our testing facility in Irvine, California is currently expanding to include the capability for automotive testing. Northwest EMC will expand this service at our other locations in the coming months.

• NVLAP Assessor Training session: This all-day workshop, attended by Northwest EMC President Dean Ghizzone and Director of Engineering Greg Kiemel, covered communication between assessors and NVLAP during third-party accreditation for testing and calibration labs.
• Automotive Component Testing technical paper from Vince Rodriguez of ETS Lindgren: This paper highlighted CISPR 25, ISO 11452-2, and equivalent standards along with the antenna and chamber requirements in order to conduct these tests.
• Radiated EMI Measurements technical paper from John Maas of IBM: This discussion was regarding inverse distance fall off theory, which is often used to project radiated emissions measurement from one distance to another. For example, 3m or 5m to 10m. This commonly used technique can result in errors of up to 14dB.

Northwest EMC President Dean Ghizzone had the opportunity to discuss our new SAR testing capabilities, Northwest EMC’s newest facility in Minnesota, and our growing list of international accreditations with Espresso Engineering. Watch the video for details.

One of the exciting moments on the show room floor was AR’s daily drawing of prizes. This drew a big crowd to the AR booth, and generated a buzz throughout the week as people anticipated the announcement of winners. After 11 years of attending the IEEE EMC Symposium and every year entering in the big AR raffle, Kim Valleen of Northwest EMC won an Apple Ipod Shuffle.

Korea’s Radio Research Agency (RRA) announced new regulations that take affect immediately. Be aware that these regulations could significantly affect the approval processes for EMC product registration in Korea. We’ve listed the changes below. Feel free to contact us with any questions.

1. Wireless Module Approval is now allowed.
2. There is a new KC logo or “mark” that will be effective on July 1st of 2011. The old KCC logo will be allowed until this date, however, after July 1st, only the new KC Mark will be accepted. **See additional notes below for more details.
   
3. The KC logo and approval number must be on the unit and shipment package.
4. The new format for the EMC Registrations number will be as follows: KCC-REM-AAA-XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
   • The REM stands for Registration EMC Manufacturer.
   • You will still need to have a company ID code, which is what the “AAA” represents.
   • There is no longer a class “A” or “B” marking requirement.
5. You will need to submit 3 forms upon registration:
   • An Application
   • Local Agent Agreement
   • DoC letter
6. The EMC registration Certificate will be issued on the same day of submission.

The process outside of these changes remains the same as before. You will still have to submit your test report and technical files for RRA’s review to make sure they comply with their regulations.

The RRA will also conduct serious audits. If any issues with the data and/or technical files should arise, your registration is subject to immediate cancellation.

Additional Notes

**The new KC logo is dark blue (indigo), gold, and silver or black. The certification mark size can be adjusted, but never less than 5mm in height. If the device is extremely small, you can put the certification mark on the package/box. Or you can put only the KC logo or only the certificate number on the product. These new label requirements must be adhered to starting on July 1st, 2011.

All EMC testing will be required starting in July, while safety tests are still under consideration and not fixed. If the device or system currently uses the old KCC approved RF module, it doesn’t need to repeat the RF testing and approval. Product list for 2 schemes: Conformity Certification and Conformity Registration, has been announced.

For questions and further information on what this means to our clients, do not hesitate to Contact Us!

As of October 1, 2010, manufacturers of ITE products must now meet two new requirements with regard to their EMC testing. The Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI), has begun implementing measurement of Radiated Disturbance above 1GHz and Conducted Disturbance at Telecommunication Ports in order to comply with CNS 13438.
The requirements before October 1, 2010 called for Radiated Disturbance below 1 GHz and Conducted Disturbance to the AC mains only. BSMI now requires implementation of two additional tests items as mentioned above, in order to fulfill the requirements of CNS 13438.

The above-mentioned testing items are applicable to products that have the internal emission sources utilizing highest frequency more than (including) 108MHz and / or telecommunication ports such as Information Technology Equipment (ITE), multimedia equipment and similar equipment that are tested to comply with CNS 13438.

BSMI will accept such applications complying with the above-mentioned testing items starting from the date of adoption of the notice. When the BSMI completes the review procedure and approves the application, a certificate will be issued and the applicable inspection standard column will be additionally stated “complete 2006 version.”

For those products that have been certified before the date of implementation, the certificates that are issued without implementation of the above-mentioned testing items will remain valid until the date of expiration, provided that the products, including the main model, are not modified. For products that the additional testing above 1GHz and/or conducted disturbance at telecommunication ports are required to be performed, the certificates may be used until the expiry date and the certificate holders may not apply for extension of validity of that certificate. For products to which the additional testing above 1GHz and conducted disturbance at telecommunication ports are not applicable, the certificate holders may apply for extension of validity of the certificate.

For product certificates that are issued without implementation of the above-mentioned testing items, application for adding series models are acceptable before the date of implementation. Such certificates may be used until the expiry date and the certificate holders may not apply for extension of validity of that certificate. If the main model and series models of a certificate are tested and comply with the above-mentioned testing items, the certificate holder may apply for a new certificate. The term of validity of the new certificate will be 3 years and the applicable 2 inspection standard column will be additionally stated “complete 2006 version.”

When applying for adding series models that intend to comply with the above-mentioned testing items, all the existing main model and series models of the certificate shall be tested and comply with the same requirements. A new certificate will be issued at the same time for such applications.

Starting from the date of implementation, for products to which the above-mentioned testing items are applicable and the applicable inspection scheme is Declaration of Conformity, the obligatory inspection applicant shall have their products tested to comply with the complete test requirements, and re-declare the conformity (re-issue the declaration of conformity) according to the relevant regulations before putting the product onto the market.

For more information, please contact us at (888) 364-2378.

Northwest EMC and Wurth Electronics Midcom invite you to our EMC seminar:

Friday, November 12, 2010
9:30 am-2:00 pm
AT:
Northwest EMC
9349 W Broadway Avenue
Brooklyn Park, MN 55445
MAP

Breakfast and lunch will be provided.
The seminar is designed by engineers and technicians, for engineers and technicians, with practice-oriented contents to give you support for the development of undisturbed electronics and equipment. Take this opportunity to benefit from the practical experiences of the Northwest EMC and the Wurth Electronics Midcom teams.

Seminar Agenda

Register Now!

Featuring Tim O’Shea & Oliver Opitz

Tim O’Shea

Register

Mr. Oliver Opitz

Oliver Opitz studied electrical engineering with an emphasis on new technology at the University of Bautzen & Stuttgart. Since 1998, he has worked in varied sectors of electronics and electro technology, specifically as a Planning Engineer. In 2007, he finished a comprehensive training program at Wurth Electronik eiSos, in technical quality management and production management. Today, he is working as a Field Applications Engineer at Wurth Electronic Midcom in Silicon Valley.

Register

We look forward to seeing you there!

Since 1992, Northwest EMC, with their state-of-the-art testing facilities, personnel, and accreditations, has quickly become reputed as dependable, consistent, and highly accurate in the services they provide. These services go beyond your basic focus on testing by providing personal consultation, handling all technical support, and providing all necessary data throughout their clients approval process. Northwest EMC now has extended access by providing manufacturers, designers, and importers a single source to handle all the differing regulatory needs throughout the world.

In the global EMC/EMI testing arena, clients will see the biggest return on their investment when working with the newly expanded services of Northwest EMC. As a company that takes ownership of the entire process, they can now leverage all existing test data and parlay it into any country their client decides they want their product, handle all communication, technical questions, and all the paper work for their testing partners. Knowing that an experienced, globally certified company can manage the entire approvals process saves valuable time, energy, and stress. Northwest EMC can also handle multiple country approvals at once to expedite the way to the end result.

About Northwest EMC
Northwest EMC, Inc. offers customers comprehensive, state-of-the-art testing services. We serve our customers from initial contact through completion of the approval process and on to market. We stand fully behind every customer, every test, every time. A one stop shopping source for meeting all regulatory requirements, Northwest EMC goes further and offers a broad spectrum of expanded services as well: personal consultation, initial assessment, design support, professional technical support, full documentation services, and education services. We can help you with Product-Specific EMC standards, military EMC, FDA Reviewers Guide, and we can conduct site surveys.

Commission communication in the framework of the implementation of Directive 2004/108/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to electromagnetic compatibility and repealing Directive 89/336/EEC (Text with EEA relevance)

(Publication of titles and references of harmonised standards under this directive) (2009/C 197/03)

The date of cessation of presumption of conformity for ‘EN 55022:1998 Information technology equipment — Radio disturbance characteristics — Limits and methods of measurement (CISPR 22:1997 (Modified))’ and its amendments ‘A1:2000 to EN 55022:1998 (CISPR 22:1997/A1:2000)’ and ‘A2:2003 to EN 55022:1998 (CISPR 22:1997/A2:2002)’ which was set out in the Commission communication published in the Official Journal of the European Union C 126 of 5 June 2009, is postponed until 1 October 2011.

Commission communication in the framework of the implementation of Directive 1999/5/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on radio equipment and telecommunications terminal equipment and the mutual recognition of their conformity (Text with EEA relevance)

(Publication of titles and references of harmonised standards under this Directive) (2009/C 197/04)

The date of cessation of presumption of conformity for ‘EN 55022:1998 Information technology equipment — Radio disturbance characteristics — Limits and methods of measurement (CISPR 22:1997 (Modified))’ and its amendments ‘A1:2000 to EN 55022:1998 (CISPR 22:1997/A1:2000)’ and ‘A2:2003 to EN 55022:1998 (CISPR 22:1997/A2:2002)’ which was set out in the Commission communication published in the Official Journal of the European Union C 280 of 4 November 2008, is postponed until 1 October 2011.

Official Journal of the European Union

Official Journal of European Union PDF Page

As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, we have purchased new flicker and harmonics test equipment for all of our test labs. Our brand new Voltech PM6000 units are capable of testing to the new Standards.

In order to remain in compliance, all units previously tested for harmonics that are to remain on the market will need to be re-tested by the end of 2007. Please call us at 888-364-2378 to schedule a test or determine if your units require additional testing.