LUMEN Australia has commissioned a new environmental laboratory in Melbourne to provide in-house testing services for its own products and clients.
Lumen provides research, design and manufacturing of automotive components for various systems throughout a vehicle.
It supplies wiring looms, electronic systems and plastic components to vehicle manufacturers and to the automotive aftermarket.
The new environmental laboratory will boost the quality of its products, and allow Lumen to offer testing services to the industry and clients.
Tests within this controlled E-LAB laboratory include Temperature; Humidity; Vibration; Temperature Cycling and Corrosive Atmospheres; Thermal Shock; Salt Spray Testing; Electrical / Mechanical and Paint Testing along with many others.
The laboratory is under the direction of Product Test Engineer, Katerina Zoumbas who holds a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Electronics and Computer Systems from Swinburne University.
Equipment in the laboratory include:
- The latest Thermal Shock Chamber causing severe thermal shock loads at an accelerated pace when testing PCB solder joints, seals and connections;
- A Programmable Temperature / Humidity Chamber to accelerate and expose corrosion problems in a product;
- Salt Spray Tester simulating a corrosive environment performing tests to cause degradation or short time failure;
- Vibration Tester able to perform random and sinusoidal vibration to determine whether a product is designed to survive harsh environments, loads due to shipping, dropping, transportation, etc;
- Temperature Chamber used to assess the long term reliability of devices under high temperature conditions;
- Ultra Low Temperature Freezer;
- Electrostatic Discharge Simulator testing for ESD immunity to ensure reliable operation if subjected to electrostatic discharge when in service. These tests are conducted in accordance with the European Union’s EMC Directive for ‘CE’ mark compliance;
- Fully Programmable Power Supply for predetermined or arbitrary waveforms;
- An Artificial Mains Network Tester for the simulation of impedance of automotive wiring harness;
- Electrical Tension and Compression tester with adjustable speed and auto step movement to measure tension and compression forces on precision parts such as switches, relays, wiring harness, connectors etc.;
- Long Arm Dissecting Microscope with 5MP Camera used for the evaluation of cracking, rust, scratches etc and the analysis of material fatigue;
- Coating Thickness Measuring Gauge used for measuring all coating on metallic substrates to ensure correct coating thickness has been applied;
- A Spectro Guide to accurately measure colour and gloss levels of painted parts.
The laboratory is expected to be certified to ISO 17025/NATA accreditation.