Philips Members Meeting

On Friday 8 December the EMC-ESD association visited Philips in Best. The theme of this afternoon was 'the andeffects of electromagnetic phenomena on the human body'. See below for the afternoon's program:

12.15 – 12.30 pm                            Arrival at Philips car park and walk to conference centre
12.30 – 13.00 hrs                          Reception with lunch
1:00 PM – 1:30 PM                          Presentation by Monique Beerlage (Knowledge Platform EMV) about 'Electromagnetic fields and (health) effects'  PDF version

This presentation will show the effects that strong electromagnetic fields can have on the human body. Then an explanation will be given of the exposure limits that should prevent health effects of (too) strong fields, and the advice/guidelines that are based on this. Also discussed are (possible) effects of long-term exposure, which usually follow from epidemiological research in residential or working environments. Finally, electrosensitivity is explained: people who indicate that they become ill from 'radiation'.

13:30 – 14:00 hrs                          Presentation by Bärbel van den Berg (Medisch Spectrum Twente) about 'Electromagnetic fields in the hospital; (Un)desirable!? PDF version

Contents
– Diversity in the context of EMV in the hospital
– Law/regulations
– Desired EMV
– Unwanted EMF
– Dealing with EMF; approach by hospitals

2:00 – 2:15 PM                          Break
2.15 – 2.45 pm                          Presentation Anne Roc'h (TU Eindhoven) & Rob Kleihorst (Philips) about 'State-of-the-art EMC management for complex medical devices' PDF version

Large and complex medical devices are developed in an iterative manner by larger manufacturers. In order to benefit from technology advances in other domains, components like monitors, PCs, network switches, and power supplies, are integrated and become part of the medical device. This means that they need to be subjected to the regulations applicable for medical devices, while this was not the original intended use taken into account when developing these foreign technologies and components.

Large medical devices are developed and maintained by large design teams and in cooperation with many different design and component suppliers. EMC expertise can't be expected to be available to a sufficient extend in all these participating teams. When teams are located across different continents, differences in background, culture and training come into play as well.

Combining above challenges with the fact that medical device manufacturers intend to put their products on the global market subjected to different regulatory requirements with frequently changing standards, makes managing EMC compliance a complicated task. It requires continuous efforts and investments in people, processes, and technical assets to remain in control.

During this presentation, Philips and TU/e will reveal how they cooperate to manage the challenges around EMC today and in the future. They'll explain you their vision of how they want to lead the community from a task- to a more risk-based EMC approach that places the focus of all EMC activities to where it matters most to keep patients safe and medical devices effective.

2:45 – 3:15 PM                          Brainstorming session
3:15 – 4:15 PM                           EMC Lab Tour
4:15 – 5:00 PM                          Networking reception with snacks and drinks