As European leader in directional flexible support solutions for industries working in the audio, radiocommunication, medical equipment, lighting, instrumentation, and mechanical segments, ABEILLON designs and co designs, manufactures and tests the products it ships all over the world.
The products ABEILLON makes and its fields of know-how, include the development and manufacture of a whole range of table maplights used in surface ships and submarines and in land intervention vehicles used in military theaters of operations.
To address the demands of certain customers and depending on the configuration of the table reading lamp, validation tests have been run to assess the conformity of the product with standards corresponding to the expected application cases or that are much in demand.
For instance, if we consider the ABEILLON variable intensity two-color maplight, tests were performed as per standards for the conformity of electrical connections and in terms of :
- MIL-STD-810F: this is a standard describing the requirement levels for mechanical strength and rainwater tightness
- MIL-STD-461 E v 1999: this standard describes requirement levels for emission in radio waves and resistance to them.
- MIL-STD-1275: this standard describes requirement levels to ensure maplight compatibility with the electrical power distribution system on military land vehicle platforms
Conformity assessment for rainwater tightness was carried out by water spray tests to predefined values for flowrate, distance, nozzle size, water temperature and watering time.
The mechanical strength tests consisted in subjecting the maplight to vibrations for 40 minutes and to shocks in the three directions, X, Y and Z. These mechanical tests were carried out on a vibrating table fitted with accelerometers and a control system.
After conducting tests to check the quality of the electrical connection between the ground plane and the various mechanical parts, the following tests were run :
- Conduction of radio waves emitted by power supply cables with the maplight operating normally. These tests included current and voltage measurements related to radio wave conduction.
- Radio wave radiation from the maplight operating normally. These tests were based on the measurement of the magnetic fields emitted from several positions and areas of the maplight.
- Radio wave radiation from the maplight in various operating modes. These tests involved the measurement of the emitted electric fields, along the vertical and horizontal axes of maplight polarization and in an appropriate frequency range.
Further tests to ensure the compatibility of the maplight with the electrical power distribution system (on military land vehicle platforms) were conducted. These tests covered :
Steady-state operation: the maplight must operate normally when it reaches the lower and upper limits of the electricity grid. Voltage ripple: the lamp must operate normally when exposed to voltage ripple superimposed on the power source. Transient disturbances: voltage peaks
- Voltage peaks exported into the equipment: the maplight must operate without degradation or damage when exposed to voltage peaks (described in MIL-STD1275 §5.4.2.3)
- Voltage peaks exported from the equipment: during maplight switching (start or stop), the voltage must remain within the limits of the model defined in the standard
Transient disturbances: power surges
- Voltage surges imported into the equipment: the maplight must operate unaffected by degradation or damage when exposed to voltage peaks (described in the standard)
- Voltage surges exported by the equipment: during maplight switching (start or stop), the voltage must remain within the limits of the model defined in the standard.
All the tests described briefly above were carried out by a specialized laboratory which is independent of ABEILLON. All physical measurements were covered by a detailed report referring to the measurement conditions, the equipment used, the detailed results in the form of tables or curves, and the conclusions.