Achieving enhanced product EMC in high volume home appliance manufacturing

Abstract

EMC performance of an appliance is not only a sign of regulatory compliance and also a sign of the quality of the appliance at the same time. Since the number of appliances and the electronics used in these appliances is increasing rapidly, achieving regulatory compliances and company specific quality specifications are becoming very hard for high volume appliance manufacturer. When the concern is household appliances: Traditional home appliances are characterized with their electromechanical components for EMC. Recently the increase in complexity of appliance control accompanying ever increasing yearly production numbers per site had necessitated the need to look for better methodology for EMC management and control. In this paper the EMC experiences together with the accomplishments of a home appliance manufacturer envisioning a major world player in this sector will be presented. Emphasis is given to the fact that incorporating more electronic control in home appliances at high production volumes makes EMC more of a quality issue than a regulatory issue. Operational changes for EMC management should the company go through to accomplish the high level of quality through EMC