The failure rates of certain mechanical components used in solenoid valves, actuators, and valves vary substantially depending on operation. Seals such as O-rings, for example have fundamentally different failure modes when used in applications with frequent movement (dynamic) versus applications with infrequent movement (static).
Static is generally…
While discussing functional safety certification of an integrated valve assembly with a manufacturer, exida stated that all devices (actuator, pneumatic parts, valve, etc.) must be IEC 61508 certified. The manufacturer said this was no problem, and provided a set of exida and TÜV certificates.
Of…
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,…
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…
Do you have World Cup Fever? Well I do. Especially after the Netherlands (Holland) beat Spain 5-1 on Friday. I wished that was the score last time they played. So what does this have to do with failure rates? Sometimes my mind works in odd ways. While driving home…