Safety in Industrial & Manufacturing applications

The RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) Directive states that – All components and sub-assemblies of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) placed must contain less than the maximum prescribed levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium and two specified flame retardants.

The regulations do not apply to:

Products for military use or designed to be sent into space
Products integral to equipment that is out of scope
Large scale industrial tools and fixed installations
Photovoltaic (solar) panels produced for permanent use at specific locations.
Means of transport (apart from certain two-wheeled electric vehicles)
Non-road mobile machinery for professional use
Products for research and development available on a business-to-business bases
Active implantable medical devices

Source – Gov.UK

What impact did this have on the sector?

For many heavy industrial and automation organisations such as ABB, Siemens and Thermo Fisher, the dispensation of the RoHS directive meant they had to convert all of their ‘Lead Stock’ to ‘Lead-Free’.

Their component suppliers were left with excess stock of ‘Leaded’ products, which were required to be converted to ‘Lead-Free’ to comply with the directive.

Manufacturers must make electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) within these limits and evaluate their production controls with reference to the measures detailed in the regulations. A Declaration of Conformity must be completed and supported by technical documentation to show compliance.

How can retronix help?

convert alloy on devices

Retronix offers a fully automated solder dip process, that complies with the high-reliability industry standard ANSI/GEIA standards.

Our process offers repeated dip length, dwell time and temperatures on the smallest of chip components up to the largest QFPs’, and thru-hole components.

We can then confirm alloy using our in-house XRF system. We offer tin/lead to lead-free conversion, and vice versa.

Obsolescence Services

Many industries rely on systems that are no longer produced by the original manufacturer or sold by their authorized distributors. That reliance is based, in part, on the long life cycles of these systems.

So if a component is not available from normal sources, what options are there? Many components are used on multiple systems, so can sometimes be found on unused, but obsolete PCBs within the system manufacturer themselves.

These components are known, and have had zero hours use, so often recovering them is a better option than buying supposedly “brand new” components from the grey market Retronix utilise a unique process of component recovery which avoids reflow cycles.

IC TESTS

With obsolescence and allocation issues prevailing in the market, the probability of counterfeit devices being introduced into supply chains are high. Safeguard your supply chains with a suite of inhouse Retronix IC tests.

WANt to know more about how retronix can help your business?

Contact the team today to discuss your requirements