What is RoHS?
RoHS stands for Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment. It is a European Union Directive for specified products placed on the internal market of the European Union. The Directive restricts the use of the following materials:
- Lead
- Mercury
- Cadmium
- Chromium (VI)
- Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBB)
- Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE s)
 Interpower Corporation is demonstrating a continuing commitment to safe working and environmental responsibility. Interpower Corporation is currently taking action with the objective of meeting the requirement of this directive by 12-2005. As we clear products to be RoHS Compliant we will update our web site by part number. This is identified by the RoHS logo shown at left along with a Certificate of Compliance. You can download Interpower RoHS information by accessing the approvals link for the individual part number.
Who are the member states of the European Union?
There are twenty-five Member States of the European Union (EU) see below
Austria
Belgium
Czech Republic
Cyprus
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
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Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
The Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom (Great Britain)
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Contact
For more detailed explanations please contact our Quality Assurance Specialist jcaligiuri@interpower.com or call (800) 662-2290.
Reference
Link to RoHS Directive
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee/legis_en.htm
X-ray
Screening for RoHS Compliance
By Joe Caligiuri
With the European
Union’s (EU) Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive
already in force, manufacturers who ship to Europe must ensure that
their products are compliant and do not exceed maximum concentration
levels for six controlled substances. Interpower Corporation has taken
steps to ensure products shipping to the EU are RoHS compliant. One of
these steps was to purchase the Niton XL3t XRF Analyzer.
 XL3t XRF Analyzer
The procedure is quick, easy,
non-destructive, and takes as little as two minutes. As for
limitations, the test is only capable of detecting materials close to
the surface. While it easily detects lead, mercury and cadmium, it
cannot distinguish the specific materials PBB, PBDE (Brominated Flame
Retardants) or hexavalent chromium (Cr VI) and would require further
investigation if readings are too high in these areas. The screening
process is rather simple. The object is placed into the protective test
stand. The operator will select the appropriate analytical mode,
plastic mode or alloy mode. The operator can also visually monitor the
test in progress.
XL3t
XRF Analyzer work station
When the test is completed, one of
the following results will appear, Failed (non-compliant), Inconclusive
(Further testing), or Pass (compliant). For “Failed” and
“Inconclusive” results, a XRF Screening report is
generated. The report is used when notifying the supplier. The supplier
will be required to provide supporting documents (i.e. test lab reports
or material information) in order to conclude the RoHS status.
Compliant screening report data is
entered in the product database. This information will appear on the
Interpower web site for that particular product. To access the XRF
Screening report, click on the
“RoHS Screening Report” as shown below.
 RoHS Screening
Report
A RoHS Screening Report will open
in PDF format. This report contains the date, pass or fail status,
description of each item analyzed, name of the scanning, and the data,
either in percentage or ppm (parts per million) format.
In the coming months more of these
reports will be available for our products. If you would like to learn
more about how the XL3t analyzer works you can contact Joe Caligiuri or
visit http://www.niton.com/.
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