exida explains Blog

Over the course of several blogs , I will talk about getting realistic failure rate data, where this failure data comes from, and how different methods of failure data analysis compare. I think if you understand this, you will begin to get a very good feel of what it…

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Over the course of several blogs , I will talk about getting realistic failure rate data, where this failure data comes from, and how different methods of failure data analysis compare. I think if you understand this, you will begin to get a very good feel of what it…

Read More...

Over the course of several blogs , I will talk about getting realistic failure rate data, where this failure data comes from, and how different methods of failure data analysis compare. I think if you understand this, you will begin to get a very good feel of what it…

Read More...

Over the course of several blogs , I talked about getting realistic failure rate data, where this failure data comes from, and how different methods of failure data analysis compare. I think if you understand this, you will begin to get a very good feel of what it takes…

Read More...

The IEC 61508 standard states that automatic diagnostics can only lower the dangerous undetected failure rate if those diagnostics execute 100 times faster than the expected demand rate.  That requirement has always seemed excessive to many of us here at exida.  As an accredited Certification Body we…

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Most engineers who design and verify safety instrumented functions (SIFs) understand how hard it is to design a manual proof test with high effectiveness (also called high proof test coverage). Those folks who understand that a proof test is not likely to detect all failures never use simplified equations…

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I was driving one of exida’s top risk experts from Europe to a business meeting. We parked and I locked the car door.  He commented “I noticed you did not lock the car door when you parked at the exida office.” He was right. In an area I do…

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After a false trip incident, I heard a control engineer express his displeasure with the automatic diagnostics in a new safety rated transmitter.  The transmitter diagnostics were annunciated by sending the analog current out of range.  In this case, the current went to 3.6 milliamps.  The problem was that…

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I get an email that includes a “certificate” of some sort most every week.  The sender asks “Can I accept this certificate?”  Or the sender might ask “Are these failure rates valid for the process industries?” 

At exida we have some specific criteria we use when performing third party…

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We are fortunate that Risk Analysts have developed a logical framework of quantitative and semi-quantitative analysis techniques that allow us to assess and optimally mediate risk. And we all know that this is part of the Safety Lifecycle, a series of engineering steps/procedures that represent best safety practices. These…

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IEC 61508 and IEC 61511 are known as “performance” based standards.  Specific design rules, as found in “prescriptive” standards, are not included, allowing for innovation and new technology, as well as creativity and advancement.  However, it does imply that a certain level of competency is required.

Others would strongly…

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At exida we have studied hundreds of sets of field failure data from various sources.  Some of these data sets have indicated differences in failure rates by two orders of magnitude for the same product type!  After tracing through the data collection process for many of these field failure data sets,…

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The machine safety community has defined a number called the “B10 number.”  It is a measure of time where 10% of a population of devices should have failed.  Generally it is a measure of expected end of life or “useful life” as defined by the reliability engineering community.

The…

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Over the years I have heard good ideas rejected. We have all done this and observed others doing the same. As far as safety equipment, I recall when the first safety certified pressure transmitter, the Moore 345, was released to the market.  Several potential customers said “it doesn’t…

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When we first invented the FMEDA technique in the late 1980s the biggest problem was the component failure rate and failure mode data.  Still is.  I picked up a well-known standard for component failure rates and saw a date of 2010.  The technology world has gone through an order of…

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A question was posed to me this week about why the OREDA failure rate for a solenoid valve was greater than the Failure Modes, Effects, and Diagnostic Analysis (FMEDA) results from exida for a specific manufacturer’s solenoid valve.  The person asking the question was clearly challenging the exida…

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Most of you know that exida gathers field failure data from many sources including manufacturers’ warranty return data and end user maintenance/failure records.  At this point we have nearly 100 billion unit operating hours of data.  This is probably the largest process industry data set in the world.  And…

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Reliability engineers have known for decades that realistic data must ultimately come from one source, quality field failure data for devices operating in a similar application. 

Perhaps that is why IEC 61511:2016, Clause 11.9.3 states

“The reliability data used when quantifying the effect of random failures shall…

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The solenoid valve manufacturer provides an FMEDA report that lists “useful life = 12 years.”  Useful life is a reliability engineering term that indicates a point in time when the failure rate of a device will begin increasing rather rapidly.  Why do we care about this time interval?  That…

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I just read a great article in the May issue of IEEE Spectrum magazine called “Managing Risk and Responsibility During a Crisis.”  The author Robert N. Charette says “If the American people desire the federal government to be their risk manager of first resort, then an open and…

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