The Different Types of Product Testing:
Functional, Safety, and Environmental Explained

Whether you realise it or not, pretty much every product would have had to have undergone some form of testing during its development, often to a set of predefined standards. How a product is tested, and the level of rigour applied, is mostly determined by its intended purpose.                    

In this blog, we will explore the three main areas of Product Testing.

Functional testing determines whether a product performs as expected for its intended use case. As an example, in the case of a TV remote control, a Functional test would check whether pressing each button successfully changes the corresponding channel within an expected response time.

Functional testing can consist of many individual tests. Typically, the more complex a product is, the more functions there are to verify. Which in turn has an overall impact on test times. To offset the increase in test times, automated test can be employed to simulate the press of each button. 

Safety testing evaluates the potential risks that a product could pose to humans, animals and the environment, during operation or failure. These types of tests are typically mandated by various organisations often known as governing or notified bodies. The British Standards Institution (BSI) and the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) are responsible for the upkeep of these critical documents and standards which are there for companies to seek guidance from.

Before bringing a product to market, manufacturers must consider these standards to determine the necessary tests and how to apply them to their product. For example, a mobile phone must conform to a set of standards to mitigate the risk of its battery overheating and perhaps even exploding if a diverse set of conditions are created.

This type of testing verifies that a product can meet its functional and safety standards under a set of environmental conditions. ASTM International and NASA develop standards specifically for environmental testing.

Take the example of a piece of critical equipment, such as the flight recorder (often known as a Black Box), this should operate reliably in a set of extreme environmental conditions depending on wherever in the world that the aircraft is located. At altitude, temperatures can reach as low as −55°C, with other areas around the world reaching temperatures of +50°C. The equipment needs to operate reliably across the full range of temperatures for extended periods of time.

Other environmental factors that must be considered are humidity, water ingress, shock & vibration.

Learn more about how our Automated Test Equipment can help improve your product verification processes. Contact us on sales@abvi.co.uk or call 01865 408 352.