[time-nuts] Man killed in quartz crystal accident

Bill Dailey docdailey at gmail.com
Mon Nov 25 01:10:35 UTC 2013


I am a chemical engineer and am quite frankly appalled that this kind of
high pressure process would be done in such proximity to innocents.


On Sun, Nov 24, 2013 at 6:53 PM, Bob Camp <lists at rtty.us> wrote:

> Hi
>
> NDK has multiple plants growing quartz around the world. They also have a
> number of competitors in that business. There are better places than NDK to
> buy high end bars.
>
> Bob
>
> On Nov 24, 2013, at 7:00 PM, Bill Hawkins <bill at iaxs.net> wrote:
>
> > This is not as far from time-nutty things as it might appear.
> >
> > NDK makes precision crystal oscillators from those crystals. One of them
> > is an OCXO less than an inch (20 mm) square and half that high with
> > stability of 3x10E-9 over the range of -40 to 85 C. Annual drift is
> > typically 50x10E-9. The data sheet is at:
> > http://www.ndk.com/en/news/2013/1190702_1616.pdf
> >
> > The CSB released an impressive video of the incident last month. It is
> > in the final report at:
> > http://www.csb.gov/ndk-crystal-inc-explosion-with-offsite-fatality-/
> >
> > The financial forecast for NDK shows 50 to 60% drop in profits for the
> > same sales in 2013. If that was also true in 2009, management was
> > motivated to maximize production with what they had. The original
> > consultant strongly recommended inspections for stress corrosion
> > cracking, but strong recommendations do not have financial penalties. It
> > has become obvious that money is the only thing that matters at the
> > management level these days.
> >
> > Oh, and don't bother trying to Google for "pure quartz crystals" to find
> > out whether the cost went up in 2010 after one of the two manufacturers
> > in the US was shut down. The people whose magical thinking extends to
> > crystals want purity, so all crystals are "pure."
> >
> > Help prevent incomplete knowledge.
> >
> > Bill Hawkins
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Robert Atkinson
> > Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2013 1:43 AM
> >
> > The US Chemical Safety Board have released their report into the 2009
> > accident at NDK's synthetic crystal growing facility in Belvidere IL <
> > http://www.csb.gov/assets/1/19/CSB_CaseStudy_NDK_1107_500PM.pdf > It
> > also describes the process.
> >
> > Basically a 50ft autoclave failed, killing a member of the public at a
> > rest stop 650ft away. Looks like management decisions, probably based on
> > cost, overriding engineering advice even following an earlier minor
> > incident. The letters from a consulting engineer in the annex make
> > interesting reading. It illustrates the importance of those professional
> > engineers amongst us notifying and recording any safety issues we
> > discover. The facility is still shut down and the insurance company
> > won't settle as NDK were told of possible issues.
> >
> > Robert G8RPI.
> >
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-- 
Doc

Bill Dailey
KXØO



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