Time Factory

Abstract

Have you asked yourself how you will look over 15 years? At the Bosch factory in Jucu, we saw a time machine that can help you to travel for 15 years in the future. And the technologies used seem to have come from the reality of the next decades. This "time machine" is, in fact, part of Bosch's Engineering, Quality and Validation Laboratory (EQV). It's the test room, where the products are "aged" for 15 years to analyze how they can withstand the passage of time and the action of natural phenomena - storm, equatorial rain or frost. The EQV lab concept was created from the idea of synergy between R&D departments and production, a configuration that can provide a holistic view of Bosch products that are being analyzed from the initial development phase of the product until the product returns to the laboratory to investigate possible defects that occurred during their use. "We test the product's resistance to equatorial rain, for example. If it is an electronic component mounted on a machine that will go to South America and we know that there is very high humidity in that area, here we simulate the aging of samples in a more accelerated way, "explains Grasim Robert, head of the analysis group of the EQV lab. But they are not the only tests the products are subjected to. The water resistance of the samples is also done with a very strong 6 bar jet and the water has a force similar to that coming from a fire hose. Other tests check for resistance to different types of dust - for example, Arizona powder is more abrasive and worn plastic components, while ash-containing dust can lead to short-circuits - or saline mist, which activates corrosion mechanisms. In the climatic rooms, explains Grasim Robert, there are several parameters: Time, temperature and humidity. Depending on ISO standards and customer requirements, the test team varies these three physical parameters. There are tests that last for 10-12 months. In other words, a 15-year journey in the future still takes a few months, but taking into account the pace with which technology evolves, it is obvious that this duration is reduced.