it1 u07 - technical information

CGLI 2330 Certificate in Electrotechnical Technology Level 2 Inst Tech: Unit 201 – Working Effectively & Safely in an Electrotechnical Environment

Unit 07 - Technical Information

The College at Clacton Unit 07 August 2011

Technical Information

Unit Aims

By the end of the unit participants should be able to:

State that sources of technical information to include a) British Standards Institute (BSI) b) BSEN Harmonized Standards c) Codes of Practice d) libraries (e.g. IEE) e) manufacturers’ catalogues, manuals

(Syllabus Reference: 1.3.01)

State that technical information maybe distributed and retrieved by using a) conventional drawings, diagrams b) micro-film c) micro-fiche d) video tapes e) VDUs/internet f) facsimile (fax) machines g) E-mail

(Syllabus Reference: 1.3.02)

Sources of Technical Information

Information about electrotechnical information can come from many sources. These include the following:

British Standards Institute (BSI): BSI was the world’s first national standards-making body (NSB) and is number one in the world today.

Independent of government, BSI is globally recognized as an impartial body serving both the private and public sectors. BSI works with manufacturing and service industries, businesses, governments and consumers to facilitate the production of British, European and international standards. As the UK's National Standards Body (NSB), BSI represents UK interests across all of the European and international standards organizations and through their committees.

BSI is a non-profit distributing organization, which means that any profits are reinvested into the products and services it provides.

A ‘standard’ is a document, established by consensus and approved by a recognized body, which provides rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results for common and repeated use.

Standards can exist for things (e.g. light bulbs) and, increasingly, for making things happen (e.g. services) but mainly standards represent an indispensable level of know-how in any given area. In the context of public contracts or international trade, standards are essential to simplify and clarify contractual relations.




The display of a British Standard number (e.g. BS 1363), on for instance a consumer product, shows that the manufacturer claims to have made the product in accordance with the British Standard.

The ‘Kitemark’ is the most well-known and respected product quality mark in the world.

It originated in 1903 for use on tramway rails. Today the Kitemark can be seen on hundreds of products from manhole covers to condoms, from security locks, fire extinguishers and riding helmets to gas central heating installations.

Manufacturers with the Kitemark are an elite club of some of world's best companies. There are currently 2,081 Kitemark licences, held by, among others, Chubb, Valor, British Gas and Hygena.

The Kitemark indicates to the consumer that the product is regularly tested by BSI against the requirements of its related standard and that the manufacturer's quality system is assessed to ensure continued quality production.

Many products come under European Directives and to be placed on the market in the European Union, some must bear CE marking - it's a legal requirement. CE marking is the manufacturer's claim that the product meets the essential requirements of all relevant European Directives.

CE marking requirements vary from Directive to Directive, and even within Directives. Third party testing, systems assessment and technical file assessments can be mandatory, but sometimes the manufacturer's unverified claim is all that's asked for. But if a manufacturer claims their product complies and it doesn't, they may be prosecuted.

Additionally, within the electrotechnical industry, there is an European body that seeks to standardise electrical systems and equipment across Europe. This body is the ‘European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization’ (CENELEC.

BSEN Harmonized Standards: Sometimes a BS number will be accompanied by the letters EN and/or ISO. These mean that the standard was developed as a European (EN) (British Standard European Norm) or International (ISO) standard and then adopted by the UK as a British Standard, e.g. BS EN 60898 (Circuit breakers).

Codes of Practice: Various bodies have issued codes of practice to ensure good practice in certain aspects of the industry. An example of a Code of Practice is the ‘Regulations’ published by the ‘Institute of Electrical Engineers’ (IEE). The have also received BSI approval and are now correctly referred to as ‘BS 7671’.

Libraries (eg IEE): Apart from the obvious standard library that can be found in most towns, colleges and schools, many technical organisations have their own technical libraries. For example, the IEE have their own technical library containing information on numerous electrical topics. Also, the ‘National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contractors’ (NICEIC), a self-regulating trade organisation, maintains an information database and library including the production of an extensive ‘Technical Manual’ covering all aspects of electrical installation work.




Manufacturers’ catalogues, manuals: An additional source of very useful information can be found in literature and manuals produced by manufacturers. These, apart from providing the necessary information needed to satisfactorily install and maintain their equipment, usually provide a large amount of technical information related to the particular product.

For more information see pages 228 to 229 of ‘Electrical Installations Level 2 2330 Technical Certificate’ – revised for the 17th Edition IEE Wiring Regulations (ISBN 978 0 435401 09 2).

Means of Distributing Technical Information

Various kinds of information needs, from time to time, to be stored, retrieved and distributed. This information can include the following:

Technical data

Communication between contractor and customer

Prices

Etc.

Traditionally, information was distributed by the traditional postal system (now referred to as ‘snail-mail’). All information was once distributed by this means and even today, where ‘hard-copy’ is required, e.g. building plans, this method is still used. It does suffer from the problem of the time delay between sending and receiving as well as the problem of getting ‘lost in the post’. As technology has developed, different and more efficient and quicker means of information distribution have been developed.

Conventional drawings, diagrams: Working Drawings are what are worked from when anything is installed. They can be anything from a single piece of paper to a folder full, covering all the drawing and diagrams that are needed for an accurate installation. They all have a common theme, they should be drawn to scale and contain BSEN 60617 symbols.

Micro-film: Before the wide-spread introduction of computers, micro-film was used for mass storage of documents and images. These were photographed and the images placed on strips of film. As it stood, the images were much too small to read as the film strip may have only been about 1cm wide. However, by using a special viewer or projector, the images, including text, could be easily read allowing the information to be read. Additionally, using appropriate equipment, selected pages and images could be reproduced full size onto paper.

Micro-fiche: These are similar in principle to micro-film. The main difference is that, instead of using a film strip, the pages and images are stored on a single acetate sheet. Again, a special viewer is required to enlarge each item to make it readable. Many thousands of pages/images can be stored on one sheet of acetate. Libraries generally used these for mass storage of extracts and newspaper/journal articles.

Video tapes: Many organisations and manufacturers now produce films to best show the information that they want to get over to users. These, for some years have been reproduced on VHS cassettes as VCR machines to play these are now widespread with very few people not having access to one. However, even video tapes are being superseded with DVDs now taking over from video cassettes. However, the principle is the same, that is, the dissemination of information.




VDUs/internet: The internet is a wonderful source of information, but with one large reservation. If you go into a library for a textbook, you will tend to find the floor of the library, then go to the appropriate aisle, then the section and finally locate the book. You will not get tied down with the ‘totty’ or ‘hunk’ sections; you will not try to book to ‘chat’ or book a holiday. You go to a library to get a book!!!! This is not quite the case with the internet. We may search with the right words, but how do we know whether the sites that are offered up are of use to us and so spend more time filtering the content before you get to what you actually want.

Whilst studying at college the tutors should be able to help and the college has access to a website called, www.info4education.co.uk. This website is a good resource for both BS and BS EN, along with guides from CIBSE (Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers) and access to companies who provide their catalogues and websites; these are always good for relevant data.

Facsimile (fax) machines: These machines scan a document electronically and the resulting scan can then be sent down a telephone line and, providing an appropriately set-up facsimile machine is at the ‘other end of the line’, a facsimile of the original document will be printed out at the receiving end. Any type of document can be transmitted including text documents, documents containing images or a combination of the two. Once connected, the transmission only takes a matter of minutes to complete and faxes can be sent all around the world.

E-mail: Nowadays, most businesses communicate using this method for both formal and informal means, internally and externally. Obviously, both parties must have internet connected computers although the receiver does not have to be ‘on-line’ when the message is sent, unlike a fax machine. A sent message will be held on the server of the recipients’ ‘internet service provider’ and will be delivered as soon as they log-on. When both parties are simultaneously on-line, email messages will generally arrive seconds after being transmitted, even when sent to the other side of the world. Apart from standard emails, electronic documents can be attached to the email. These include word, excel and picture documents, as well as actual programmes.

For more information see pages 56 to 60 of ‘Electrical Installations Level 2 2330 Technical Certificate’ – revised for the 17th Edition IEE Wiring Regulations (ISBN 978 0 435401 09 2).

http://www.info4education.co.uk/

it1 u07 - technical information

Documents