Reliability prediction for electronic components: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:16, 7 November 2012

Revision as of 13:26, 27 May 2013

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:* '''Help assess the effect of product reliability on the maintenance activity and on the quantity of spare units required for acceptable field performance of any particular system.''' For example, predictions of the frequency of unit level maintenance actions can be obtained. Reliability prediction can be used to size spare populations.

:* '''Provide necessary input to system-level reliability models.''' System-level reliability models can subsequently be used to predict, for example, frequency of system outages in [[Steady state (electronics)|steady-state]], frequency of system outages during early life, expected [[downtime]] per year, and system availability.

:* '''Provide necessary input to unit and system-level life cycle cost analyses.''' [[Life cycleWhole-life cost analysis|Life cycle cost studies]] determine the cost of a product over its entire life. Therefore, how often a unit will have to be replaced needs to be known. Inputs to this process include unit and system failure rates. This includes how often units and systems fail during the first year of operation as well as in later years.

:* '''Assist in deciding which product to purchase from a list of competing products.''' As a result, it is essential that reliability predictions be based on a common procedure.

:* '''Can be used to set factory test standards for products requiring a reliability test.''' Reliability predictions help determine how often the system should fail.

:* '''Are needed as input to the analysis of complex systems such as switching systems and digital cross-connect systems.''' It is necessary to know how often different parts of the system are going to fail even for [[redundancy (engineering)|redundant]] components.

:* '''Can be used in design trade-off studies.''' For example, a supplier could look at a design with many simple devices and compare it to a design with fewer devices that are newer but more complex. The unit with fewer devices is usually more reliable.

:* '''Can be used to set achievable in-service performance standards''' against which to judge actual performance and stimulate action.