Scott, I have been involved in a few such investigations and agree with the comments that others have made. I would like to add some additional comments based upon my experience.
First, start off making no assumptions regarding the source of the fire even if it initially appears obvious. Appearances can be misleading. It is important to understand the circumstances, i.e. what were the environmental conditions at the time - thunderstorms (direct hit by lightning is not required), power surges, etc. Where was the product used, and what was the environment like? Some of this information may be hard to track down. Second is to look at the product itself. As stated above, don't assume anything. Be open to all possibilities - it could be the design, component failure or problems during the manufacturing process. It could also be something that the customer did. Try to look at where the hot spot appears, and then do a root cause analysis to determine what might have caused that failure. Verify through recreating the cause in a new sample. I would agree with what others said and recommend bringing in someone >from the outside who has expertise in performing this type of analysis. I have used one such service in Toronto, but there are many across North America. Regards, Tom Smith P.Eng [email protected] From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Scott Xe Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 7:44 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Caught fire during stand-by mode I have heard such failure in catching fire during stand-by mode for long but never seen a real case. Recently, we have a returned multi-functional audio video product having such symptom: part of cabinet melted and the pcb around the power rectifiers area burned out. I tried to locate the possible causes of catching fire. However, under such circumstances, I have no idea how to start the investigation. Can someone point me out somewhere to have such investigation reports for reference/information or any guidance to such study can be shared. Thanks, Scott - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: [email protected] David Heald: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc CONFIDENTIALITY This e-mail message and any attachments thereto, is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail message, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail message, and any attachments thereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail message in error, please immediately notify the sender and permanently delete the original and any copies of this email and any prints thereof. ABSENT AN EXPRESS STATEMENT TO THE CONTRARY HEREINABOVE, THIS E-MAIL IS NOT INTENDED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR A WRITING. Notwithstanding the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act or the applicability of any other law of similar substance and effect, absent an express statement to the contrary hereinabove, this e-mail message its contents, and any attachments hereto are not intended to represent an offer or acceptance to enter into a contract and are not otherwise intended to bind the sender, Sanmina-SCI Corporation (or any of its subsidiaries), or any other person or entity. _____________________________________________________________________________ Scanned by Sanmina-SCI eShield _______ _____________________________________________________________________ - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: [email protected] David Heald: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________
