HP HP-Bench-Briefs-1995-01-03 free download

File name HP-Bench-Briefs-1995-01-03.pdf

HEWLETT PACKARD SERVICE INFORMATION FROM HEWLETT-PACKARD 1st Quarter 1995 I t t I he Metrological and Financial Implications of a Clogge Fan-Filter! Martin Aust / Hewlett-Packard Greg Burnett / Hewlett-Packard Mike Hutchins / Hewlett-Packard When you've peeked around the back of an ATE system, have you ever dis- covered one or more dirty or clogged fan filters? If not, then congratulations! Maybe your work environment ap- r proaches `clean room' quality - or maybe your preventive maintenance program is effective enough to keep the filters clean. However, it's reasonable to consider that the majority of systems are oper- ating in environments and processes that: = Degrade metrological integrity; and, rn Increase equipment maintenance cost and downtime. How serious are these effects? It may help to consider the following scenario, drawn from anumber of real situations. burning. Almost simultaneously, the Furthermore, your system is now in- The Scenario instrument goes into hard failure. Now operative due to the failure. This down- f Over a period of months, the air filter for the first time, you become suspi- time translates to lost income, and al- for an instrument in your ATE system cious, to say the least. You search, in- most certainly, to customer dissatisfac- i gradually becomes clogged. The inter- spect and ponder. . . . . tion. And, due to the nature of heat t nal operating temperature gradually . . . . . and it doesn't take long for you to damage and the associated repair pro- rises and some metrological param- spot the clogged air filter. cess, the instrument is likely to be out eters gradually drift. At some point, of service for weeks. When you have due to circuit temperature coefficients, Although the cause of this dilemma is the instrument repaired and recalibrated, the instrument goes out of specifica- now obvious, perhaps you don't even it will more than likely be at great ex- tion. Unaware of ti problem, you con- hs want to think about the metrological pense becaus