Moisture and dust in lighting equipment : an investigation of customer perception and technical solutions

Abstract: Purpose To investigate the possibility to reduce the number of failures caused by moisture and dust ingress in lighting equipment by looking towards customer acceptance and warranty claims, and then translate the result to technical attributes. Methodology The methodology is set up to be a part of a Design for Six Sigma project including the steps up to Concept development and business/customer approval. Known product development tools are used to evaluate existing techniques and generate new concepts. Customer analysis is done by surveys and investigating warranty claims. Result & Conclusions The customer analysis in this thesis show that Brazil and to some extent UK is the countries where the problem is seen as most severe. It also shows that complaints regarding dust are far more common than complaints regarding moisture when it comes to lamps placed at the lower part at the front of the truck. When the results from the customer analysis are compared with the technical aspects it shows that the most beneficial way to deal with the problem is to create a good air flow while still keeping the pore size, which could be done by using membranes and the help from CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulations. Trapping solutions are also welcomed by the customer as long as they can be part of the regular service.