Quality at Roboteq

At Roboteq, quality is made up of three components:

  • Quality

  • Reliability

  • Safety

Quality

Manufacturing Quality

Manufacturing builds the product according to IPC-A-600 standard within the ISO 9001 quality framework. IPC-A-610 is among the most widely used electronic assembly standards in the world.  All manufacturing organizations are ISO 9001 certified.

Outgoing Quality

This is the quality gate through which the product must go as it leaves the production area and is part of the production flow. All product is subject to 100% electrical testing and 100% visual inspection under the responsibility of Production Management.

Incoming Quality

This is the quality gate through which the product must go as it is received by Logistics prior to them moving the product to Stock. This is done under the responsibility of Logistics.
A sample of the quantity received is pulled and electrically tested and visually inspected. A single failure will trigger 100% inspection for the whole shipment, as well Failure Analysis for the determination of root cause of the failure and its corrective action to be implemented in Production.

Incoming Quality Inspection is done by separate operators with respect to manufacturing, using separate tools.

Characterization and Validation

Characterization is a set of tests which are performed once at the time a specific product model is added to the list of products offered for sale. These are the tests that are impractical to be performed 100%.Typical examples are high and low temperature testing, absolute maximum ratings
Validation is a test done on parameters that need to be tested only once, because if they pass then they always pass. A typical example is firmware. Once firmware is tested as correct, then it is always correct.

Reliability

Life Test

Roboteq performs routine life test on its controllers by randomly pulling units from stock and subjecting them to electrical stress.
Each unit is powered at high current and the power is cycled ON/OFF to create thermal stress; the duration of the test is 80 hours. A record is created for every unit subject to life test.

Field Returns

All units failing in the field and returned to Roboteq are recorded. Those units returned because of failing in the field for unexplained reasons are subject to Failure Analyses for root cause and corrective action.

MTBF and MTTF

Product reliability is defined as the probability that a device wil perform its required function, subjected to stated conditions, for a specific period of time.  This is quantified as Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) for repairable products and Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) for non-repairable products. 

MTTF data is actively recorded and monitored.  MTTF report is available to customers upon request.

Safety

IEC Conformity

Roboteq products conform to the IEC spec 60204-1 which deals with the "Safety of Machinery & Electrical Equipment of Machines."
This spec deals with the following safety aspects:

  • Electric shock
  • Electrical fire
  • Faulty control circuits
  • Disturbances or disruptions in power sources
  • Electromagnetic disturbances either incoming or generated (EMC)
  • Release of stored energy (either electrical or mechanical) resulting in electric shock, or unexpected movement
  • Surface temperatures that can cause injury

 

In addition the spec covers aspects such as Operating Temperature Range, Vibrations, Battery Voltage Range, Humidity.

Conformance to IEC spec 60204-1 is based on the "Where Applicable" criterion. In case of EMC, it can only be tested in a complete system of which the controller is only one of the components. The stipulations relative to EMC do not apply to the controller being an isolated component. For the applicable EMC specification IEC 618000-6-2, IEC 618000-6-3, and IEC618000-6-4 see the downloadable test report available below.

 

WARNING

RoboteQ controllers are not for use in a residential environment. If used in such environment, they may cause radio interference, in which case supplementary mitigation measures may be required. For suggestions to limit electromagnetic emission and interference please review our EMC App Note available below. Installation by expert technical personnel only.

For a full accounting of Roboteq compliance with IEC spec 60204-1, please review the IEC Conformance Specs document below.

 

NOTE:  While many electronic products fall under EN61010-1, our products are covered by IEC 60204-1, "Safety of machinery; Electrical equipment of machines," where a machine is defined as a system with at least one moving part.  Norm EN 61010-1 paragraph 1.1.2 specifically excludes controls for electrical machines which are referred to IEC 60204.

EU Conformity

Roboteq products conform with the EU directives listed below:

  • EU Restriction Of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) 2011/65/EU
    (by manufacturing standard)

    and:
  • EU EMC Directive 2014/30/EU (see downloadable EMI test report below)
  • EU Low Voltage Directive 2014/35/EU
    by using the relevant sections of the following IEC standards:
    • SAFETY:IEC60204-1
    • IEC61800-5
  • EU WEEE Directive 2012/19/EU
  • EU REACH Regulation 1907/2006/EC

 

All documentation relating to RoboteQ EU Conformance is available for download below.

Disclaimer: Roboteq products are components conforming to the requirements for "CE" marking; it is responsibility of the buyer/system implementor to subject and qualify the whole system in which they are integrated prior to affixing the "CE" mark to the system.

FMEA

FMEA (Field Mode and Effect Analysis) is an important branch of design where a complex supervised system can be diagnosed by the supervisory machine for the purpose of alerting and taking immediate reparatory action.

FMEA assumes that components in the system are FMEA enabling, meaning they can:

  • Detect their own fault conditions
  • Report fault conditions to the supervisor

Roboteq motor controllers have several fault detect mechanisms, as well as the ability to respond to supervisory queries with a code specific to the fault experienced.  The specifics can be found in the motor controller user manual.