The rise of new energy appliances has created new demands for safety compliance testers.

Against the backdrop of global advocacy for green and sustainable development, new energy home appliances are entering millions of households at an unprecedented speed. From solar water heaters, air source heat pump water heaters, to photovoltaic direct drive variable frequency centrifugal units, new energy home appliances have gradually become the new favorite of the home appliance market due to their significant advantages in energy conservation and environmental protection. However, with the popularity of these emerging home appliances, their safety performance has attracted much attention, which has also brought a series of new demands to the safety testing industry.

The unique electrical performance and safety testing challenges of new energy household appliances

There are significant differences in electrical performance between new energy household appliances and traditional household appliances. Taking solar water heaters as an example, they convert light energy into electrical energy through solar panels, which is then used to heat water. During this process, its input voltage and current will fluctuate with changes in light intensity, unlike traditional electric water heaters that are connected to stable mains power. This requires safety testers to have a wider range of voltage and current measurements, accurately capture and analyze these dynamic data changes, to ensure the electrical safety of water heaters under various lighting conditions.

For example, as a special type of new energy household appliance, the charging process of new energy vehicle charging piles involves high voltage and high current. The communication connection between the charging station and the vehicle is also crucial, as communication failures may lead to abnormal charging and pose safety hazards. Therefore, in addition to conducting routine tests such as voltage resistance and insulation resistance, safety testers also need to have the ability to detect the integrity and stability of communication signals to ensure the safety and reliability of the charging process.

Requirements for testing the correlation between energy conversion efficiency and safety

One of the core advantages of new energy home appliances is their efficient energy conversion. For example, air source heat pump water heaters use a small amount of electrical energy to drive compressors and absorb heat from the air to heat water, with much higher energy conversion efficiency than traditional electric water heaters. But this efficient energy conversion process is also accompanied by complex physical changes, which puts higher demands on the safety of the equipment.

The safety tester needs to add testing functions for energy conversion related parameters, such as measuring the input power and output heat of heat pump water heaters under different operating conditions, and then calculating their actual energy conversion efficiency. Through long-term monitoring and analysis of efficiency data, it is possible to timely detect whether there are energy conversion abnormalities in the equipment, as this may be an early signal of aging or failure of internal components, which may cause safety issues such as leakage and overheating.

Expansion of testing functions to adapt to the complex environment of new energy home appliances

The usage environment of new energy household appliances is often more complex than that of traditional household appliances. Like solar panels installed on rooftops, they are exposed to harsh natural environments such as wind, sun, rain, sand and dust for a long time. Under such conditions, the insulation performance of solar panels and their connecting circuits may gradually decrease, leading to the risk of leakage.

This enables safety testers to have the ability to simulate complex environments, such as conducting electrical safety tests in high temperature, high humidity, low temperature, dust and other environments. By testing new energy appliances in different environmental simulation chambers, we comprehensively evaluate their safety performance in actual use environments, ensuring that the products can still operate safely and stably under various extreme conditions.

New requirements for network security testing brought about by intelligent interconnection functions

Nowadays, many new energy home appliances have intelligent interconnection functions, which can be remotely controlled or connected to smart home systems through mobile apps. For example, the intelligent photovoltaic air conditioning system allows users to adjust the air conditioning temperature and check the usage of photovoltaic power anytime and anywhere through their mobile phones. However, while this intelligent interconnection brings convenience, it also introduces network security risks.

Security testers need to keep up with the times and add network security testing functions. For example, detecting whether the device is vulnerable to hacker attacks, whether there is a risk of data leakage, and whether the communication encryption between the APP and the device is reliable. Only by ensuring the security of new energy appliances at the network level can we truly guarantee the safety of users' use and avoid serious consequences such as device loss of control and personal information leakage caused by network security vulnerabilities.

The rise of new energy home appliances has injected new vitality into the home appliance industry and opened up new market space for the safety testing instrument industry. Faced with the new demands brought by new energy home appliances in terms of electrical performance, energy conversion, usage environment, and intelligent interconnection, safety tester manufacturers need to increase research and development investment, continuously innovate and improve product functions to meet the increasingly strict safety testing requirements of new energy home appliances, and jointly promote the healthy and sustainable development of the new energy home appliance industry.