IP rating - Dustproof

Instead of claiming a product is 'dustproof', a better way of stating it is 'protection against foreign object intrusion', as is mentioned within IEC60529. There is a reason to it, as a product is not only in danger of being harmed by intrusion of dust or sand. One look at the grills of a table fan and it is not difficult to understand that its purpose is to prevent accidental and intentional (in the case of innocent infants) access to the dangerous rotating blades of the product. 

IP rating - Protection against Ingress

Sony Cybershot TX-5 (image taken
from Sony website).

Ever use products that failed because of water seeping into the interior? Or maybe sand jamming the moving parts? It is quite usual for products to be designed to be 'waterproof' or 'dustproof', but as an engineer, how do you know if they really are as they claimed, or what to look out for to know how 'waterproof' it is?

Engineered items are usually labeled as sealed against dust or water through a system known as IP rating. The IP code labeled on products and claimed in technical datasheet will provide users and buyers the degree of protection provided by mechanical casings and enclosures of electrical equipment against the following:

• protection against foreign objects (e.g. sand and dust)
• protection against effects due to ingress of water
• protection against access (accidental or intentional) by persons to hazardous parts inside the enclosure

Uni-signal - Traffic Light for Color Blind

If you think that there would not be any new designs that will surprise you the way i-whatever did, think again. Especially when you were rushing the red light. Surfing across the web in a lazy evening brought to my attention the design of Uni-signal, a traffic light with a slight variation from the norm. 

Uni-signal light - a new idea for the color blind (image taken from Yanko Design website).

Courier Services

You are working as a Design Engineer in ABC company in Penang, and urgently need to send your latest part for testing in a test lab in Singapore. You rush to your company's person in charge for delivery, be it your clerk or your in-house logistics/delivery department, and the auntie/uncle in charge lazily tells you that you need to fill in certain forms to provide certain information before delivery can be made. You bite down your curses and find the relevant information, all the while wondering how this job falls upon your shoulder when you have more important things to do.

Let's face it: in the real world, us third world engineers handle everything, and that included logistics. So arming yourself with basic knowledge of how the logistics system of a courier service works will be crucial to your work, especially so when you are the engineer, technician and office boy all combined in one.