Author: Ascott Analytical

New Roof for the H500 Alpha +

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Ascott are adding a new accessory for Alpha + range, an accessory for the H500 condensation cabinet, a ‘Cleveland’ style roof.

New Roof for the H500 Alpha +

This style of cabinet is based on a model originally designed and developed by the Cleveland Society of Paint Technology, this particular design simulates natural dew and rain by condensing moisture directly on to the test panels as opposed to condensate forming on a roof and dripping onto the samples.

With the Cleveland style roof the test panels provide the actual roof of the cabinet, room air on the top side of the panel cools them to a couple of degrees below the vapour temperature, this temperature difference allows the condensate to form directly on the underside of the test panels.

It is only when water condenses that it begins to attack metals and metallic coatings, with the traditional humidity cabinet the samples are inside the cabinet and there is no guaranteed mechanism for cooling the samples enough to generate condensate, with the Cleveland style system the cooling effect of the room air on the back side of the panels ensures there is a continuous supply of freshly condensed water on the test panel.

The roof is configured for testing the most popular test panel sizes, 6” x 3” (152mm x 76mm) and 6” x 4”(152mm x 101mm).

The Alpha + ‘Cleveland’ Style condensation cabinet allows testing to the following standards;

DIN50017/ ISO 6270-1/VDA621-421

Volvo STD423-0018,

ASTM D4585

BS3900/ASTMD2247

New Ascott Head Office & Training Facility Visit

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After several months of development Ascott is able to unveil it’s new Head Office and manufacturing facility.

The new site includes a new demonstration room and also a new World Class training facility.

The new training facility was used for the first time in June by a visiting group from the German based corrosion standards development committee, GUS.

Ford / Volvo / Scania kit for Cyclic (CC) Chambers

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Ford / Volvo / Scania kit for Cyclic (CC) Chambers, Ascott Analytical

This new accessory adds 6 very important test standards to the capabilities of our cyclic chamber range, as listed below;

  • ISO 16701
  • Ford CETP 00.00-L-467
  • Volvo VCS 1027,149 (ACT-1)
  • Volvo VCS 1027,1449 (ACT-2)
  • Volvo STD 423-0014
  • Scania STD4319

This new accessory includes a psychrometric humidity system for accurate monitoring and control of humidity, a re-circulating airflow system passing air uniformly over the test samples, which introduces heat and humidity and works in conjunction with the air distribution bar to enhance the chambers performance.

Additionally, it is also equipped with multiple elevated spray nozzles to provide a salt solution ‘shower’ over the samples, to ensure they are wetted to the degree required in these highly demanding standards.

The new accessory will be available to fit 3 chambers sizes as below;

  • ACC125/1 – Upgrade kit for CC450iP
  • ACC125/2 – Upgrade kit for CC1000iP
  • ACC125/3 – Upgrade kit for CC2000iP

Ascott Launch Scratch Tool

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The new Ascott scratching tool is specially designed to perform scribes on coated steel panels or test substrates prior to salt spray testing for example as described in ISO 9227.

As standard, the scratch tool is supplied with 3 tungsten carbide cutting blades;

0.5mm thick (the Daimler Chrysler version)

1mm thick (the original Sikkens® version)

2mm thick (requirement for 2018 update of ISO 12944-6 )

The blade is positioned by an adjustable guide block to assist cutting a straight line. The guide block can be easily adjusted using the Allen keys provided.

The tool features a soft grip ergonomically designed handle for ease of use and is supplied in a carry case.

Now available to buy from our online store Sikkens Scratch Tool – Ascott Shop Sikkens scratch tool

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New Air Saturator for Ascott Chambers

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Following 2 years of internal development and closely monitored field trails on a number of chambers delivered to customers, we are pleased to announce that all Ascott chambers will now be fitted with our new clear air saturator.

The new air saturator provides a number of key advantages;

. . Instant ability to visually confirm that the air saturator is operating correctly, and that there is no contamination present in the system.

. . Designed to be very easy to take apart for servicing / cleaning.

. . An integral outer case / splash guard, to prevent moisture escape for increased protection of the electronics within the chamber.

. . Now heats the salt lines, providing performance / specification in line with JIS Z test standards.

. . Compliant with Renault ECC-1 test procedures.

2018 Automotive Test Expo India

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Ascott exhibited once again at the Indian Automotive Testing Expo held in Chennai from January 10th – 12th at the Chennai Trade Centre.

The number of quality of visitors to the show could not have been better.

Exhibiting an S450iP at the show, Unitron, Ascott’s long standing distributor in India, received enquiries from many International companies including; Scania, Renault Nissan, SGS, TuV, John Deere, Case New Holland, Honeywell, TRW, Mercedes Benz, Suzuki, Hanon, Massey Fergusson, Saint-Gobain and Faurecia, in addition to receiving a whole host of enquiries from local Indian automotive manufacturers.

Ascott Analytical Wins A National Award.

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After winning the Made in the Midlands Export Award and Midlands Region Export Award from the EEF (The Manufacturers Organisation) in 2017, Ascott has started 2018 by beating other Regional winners to win our first National Award for Export, from the EEF.

The Award was presented to Ascott by the Department for International Trade at the EEF National Gala, held at the Grand Connaught Room in London, on 25th January.

Adrian Wain, Managing Director, is pictured above receiving the Award from a member of the Department for International Trade.

Winners of other National Awards included Jaguar Land Rover and the Weir Group.  Ascott winning the Award is made all the more remarkable by the list of other prestigious Regional winners attending the event, including; JCB, Eaton, Sony, BASF, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, BAE Systems, MBDA, Caterpillar, GE and Airbus.

Second Export Award

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Earlier this year Ascott was lucky enough to win an Export Award from the Made in the Midlands Group.

Following on from this we participated in the Future Manufacturing Awards with an organisation called the EEF (The Manufacturers Organisation).

At the award ceremony on Friday 10th November Ascott was announced as the winner for the the Midlands region, which will ensure we now progress to the National finals held at the end of January next year in London.

LV124

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In recent years the automotive industry has been faced with many technical challenges in attempting to comply with a series of industrial norms. One of the most important of these norms is LV 124, which was jointly developed by a group of German automobile manufacturers; Daimler Benz, Audi, BMW, Volkswagen, and Porsche.

Most of these manufacturers have now developed their own version of this standard, these include Mercedes (MBN LV 124-1), BMW (GS 95024-2-1), and VW (VW 80000).

This complex 160 page standard covers test procedures for electrical and electronic components in passenger motor vehicles weighing less than 3.5 tonnes, and includes electrical tests, mechanical tests, climatic tests, and service life tests.

Amongst the many individual tests within the standard is a requirement for corrosion testing, this element of LV 124 is based upon EN 60068-2-11, which is undertaken to test the resistance of the component to malfunction when exposed to a salt spray climate at an elevated temperature, due to short circuits and leakage currents caused by ingress of salt into the component.

During the test, specimens are placed in an enclosed chamber and exposed to a continuous indirect spray of neutral (pH 6.5 to 7.2) salt water solution, which falls-out on to the specimens at a rate of 1.0 to 2.0ml/80cm²/hour, in a chamber temperature of +35C. The intermittent salt spray phase is maintained for 8 hours followed by a 4 hour rest period, and hence each cycle lasts for 12 hours.

During the salt spray phase the specimens must be operated electrically under the ‘as installed’ conditions of the component (the components position with covers / trims etc), which needs to be agreed between the tester and the purchaser. If there are several operating modes of the component they must be cycled during the test in proportion to the time spent in that mode during actual operation. Additionally, if the component contains a coolant circuit, the coolant must be set to the test temperature.

For components located on the underbody of the vehicle or within the engine compartment this cycle is repeated 12 times, for all other components it is repeated just 8 times. The tested component must operate correctly before, during and after the test, in relation to a number of defined parameters, which can include; closed-circuit current consumption, operating currents, output voltages, contact resistances, input impedances, and signal rates (rise and fall time).

All Ascott Salt Spray, Cyclic and Atmosfar chambers are able to undertake this element of LV 124, if they are supplied fitted with an entry port to allow the component to be electrically operative during the test.

Auto Test Expo Shanghai & SGS

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From September 19th – 21st Ascott Analytical, in conjunction with Shanghai Maoshan, distributor for the Chinese market, exhibited at the Auto Test Expo at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Centre.       

The stand was very busy and visitors to the exhibition, mostly from China, represented a number of leading automotive organisations including; ZKW, ZF, Valeo, Siemens, Haima, Hyundai, Bureau Vertitas, SGS and a whole host of Chinese vehicle and component manufacturers.

Also exhibiting were SGS, who were actively marketing their new corrosion test capabilities, courtesy of a selection of newly delivered Ascott corrosion test chambers.

Coincidentally Ascott are about to deliver the first Atmosfär chamber to the SGS Group in India.