FCC 47 CFR & Indust Equip

[Brian Johnson]

Does anyone know a more detailed definition of what the FCC considers "a
digital device used exclusively as industrial, commercial, or medical test
equipment" ?  (47 CFR Sec. 15.103 (c) "Exempted devices")



*
 Brian Johnson
 Quality Engineer
 CTel   
 (301) 428-9405   
 e-mail:  bri...@server.ctel.com  
*

Re: FCC 47 CFR & Indust Equip

[Nick Rouse]

Jon Curtis is right about the FCC regulations 
in saying that emission measurements
made for European compliance will in general
sufice for FCC regulations, especially if you
are in  one of the classes for which fully 
compliant measurements are not mandatory 
and  you are reponding to the statment in 
15.103 'Although not mandatory, it is strongly
recommended that the manufacturer of an 
exempt device endeavor to have the device
meet the specific technical standards of this
part'. This is however one difference between
the European and American emission standards
that was once only rarely of concern but
becoming of increasing importance. This
is the FCC requirement to extend the range of
measurents to 2GHz if the highest clock
frequency is over 108MHz. The European 
tests are limited to 1GHz. Intel have stated 
that they expect that by the end of the year
their bottom end processor will be a 120MHz
Pentium. Soon we can expect this difference
to apply to most PC based products.
Nick Rouse   

Re: FCC 47 CFR & Indust Equip

[Jon D Curtis]

Section 15.103(b) CFR 47 (Exempted devices) exempts "A digital device 
used exclusively as an electronic control or power system" ... "in an 
industrial plant" from complying with the technical requirements of 
Subpart B.  This means you don't have to do any testing and you do not 
need to label your product.  You are however 
still subject to Part 15, specifically section 15.5 which requires you to 
correct any interference to licensed radio transmissions that your 
product causes in the field.  Also, under section 15.29 you will need to 
comply with any commission request to evaluate your product (extremely 
unlikely, bordering on winning the lottery without betting).

The legal issues aside, you may still wish to test your products for 
marketing reasons.  You may find compliance with the FCC limits to be a 
selling feature for your equipment.  If you are meeting the European 
requirements, compliance with the FCC limits should be almost automatic, 
in fact the same test data can usually used to show compliance with both 
the FCC and European specs.  Finally, the FCC reevaluates the exemptions 
on about a ten year cycle.  Right now they "recommend" that your class of 
products comply with the technical requirements.  Someday the FCC might 
extend coverage to your equipment.   

Jon D. Curtis, P.E.
Director of Engineering  email:  j...@world.std.com
Curtis-Straus LLCphone:  (508) 263-1897
409 Massachusetts Avenue fax:(508) 263-4164
Acton, MA 01720  http://world.std.com/~jdc/
USA

On Wed, 24 Apr 1996 m_sher...@delphi.com wrote:

> We're a manufacturer of industrial equipment. The equipment
> goes into what the European EMC directive would classify as a
> heavy industrial environment. We use a lot of electronics--PCs,
> PLCs, sensors, etc--in our controls that are built into this
> equipment.
> 
> Question: do we have to comply with the FCC regs, Title 47 CFR
> 15, subpart A (b), as an unintentional radiator?
> 
> thanks!
> Mike Sherman
> Product Safety Engineer
> FSI International
> (612) 361-8140
> m_sher...@delphi.com
> 

FCC 47 CFR & Indust Equip

[M_SHERMAN]

We're a manufacturer of industrial equipment. The equipment
goes into what the European EMC directive would classify as a
heavy industrial environment. We use a lot of electronics--PCs,
PLCs, sensors, etc--in our controls that are built into this
equipment.

Question: do we have to comply with the FCC regs, Title 47 CFR
15, subpart A (b), as an unintentional radiator?

thanks!
Mike Sherman
Product Safety Engineer
FSI International
(612) 361-8140
m_sher...@delphi.com