What is an extreme environment?
Extreme environment definition
The extreme environment has more severe environmental conditions and elements to that of the natural environment.
Typically, mankind can only work in extreme environments for short durations, with protective gear or not at all. This is the field in which Environmentally Sound honed their skills - to design for the extreme environment, so that equipment are warranted to function reliably and resiliently in their immediate surroundings.
Introduction
Often, when designing and developing a product, machine or equipment to operate in the natural environment, there are components and/or systems within that product that will experience a more extreme environment to that of the natural environment around it.
For example, let's consider the smart phone when it charges. When the smart phone charges, the phone warms up. The owner becomes aware of the heat as soon as he or she unplugs the phone from the charger. The owner is often concerned, as the lithium ion batteries contains flammable fluid, and with it's poor track record in the press, it's not surprising that the owner is concerned.
But why is the designer and manufacturer not concerned?
To keep it simple, electronics often dissipate heat. The heat causes the temperature in the immediate surrounding or within the device to elevate beyond the temperature limit; and beyond the limit at which the electronics can operate reliably. And therefore, cooling is required to lower that temperature by forced air, natural convection or conduction to a cooler body - a heat sink.
During the design, development and testing of the device, the manufacturer ascertained that the device heats up. It is during these phases that manufacturers gain confidence in their products. And therefore the manufacturer is not concerned when the phone heats up during charging, as they have witnessed it several times during testing, without any failure.
Moving on...
When designing equipment to be environmentally friendly, it is inevitable that some section or part of that product will be exposed to a more extreme environment to that of nature. This extreme environment could be extreme heat, vibration, noise, humidity, water, salinity, pressure etc.
It is a benefit to our customers to offer this experience and expertise as a service to develop products for extreme environments, as it is inevitable that a part of their product, equipment or machinery will experience a more severe condition to that of nature.