A method for assessing the potential for a dermal burn hazard from malfunctioning consumer electronic devices.
We developed an approach to adapt the ASTM C1055-03 Standard to assess the potential for contact burn injury from portable consumer electronic devices. The approach involves measuring the maximum temperature profile during the fault and devising a way to reproduce these temperatures in an exemplar device in a controlled manner for thermesthesiometer measurements. By comparing the results of the thermesthesiometer measurements to the contact burn injury threshold data published in ASTM C1055-03 and various guidelines for unintentional contact times, we were able to predict whether a potential hazard exists and verify result with "finger tests." We applied this method on a number of occasions to assess the likelihood of a contact burn injury resulting from a fault arising inside portable consumer electronic devices.
Mikolajczak
Celina J
CJ
Exponent Failure Analysis Associates, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
Taylor
Paul M
PM
D002056:Burns / Q000209:etiology*; D004581:Electronics; D004868:Equipment Failure; D004869:Equipment Safety; D006801:Humans; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D013696:Temperature