Transcript for EO403 - What is Reliability Engineering Failure Analysis (1).PDF

Graduate Apprenticeship - Engineering Design and Manufacture Class: EO403 - Design for X What is Reliability Engineering Failure Analysis In this video, we will be looking at what is reliability engineering and failure analysis. To start, let's define what we mean by failure. In product design, fail...

Graduate Apprenticeship - Engineering Design and Manufacture Class: EO403 - Design for X What is Reliability Engineering Failure Analysis In this video, we will be looking at what is reliability engineering and failure analysis. To start, let's define what we mean by failure. In product design, failure is a consequence of not meeting a customer's requirements. In process design, failure is a consequence of not being able to perform a function as required per specification. The failure mode is the manner in which the failure occurs. So for example, a light bulb that fails to emit light, the motor fails to start, this is the manner in which the failure is occurring. It's important to remember that difference between failure and failure mode. So why is all this important? Well, we live in a man-made environment and we take reliability of systems for granted. However, once in a while something like this can happen. We can have the BP oil spill. We can have Chernobyl. We can have the Titanic. When disasters like these happen, we're left asking two questions. How did it happen? And who's responsible? Failure analysis looks to identify where potential risks exist in a potential product or service design. Reliability engineering then looks to optimise the design of the product or the process to minimise these risks identified from happening in the first place. So why is all this important? Well, if we think about an example-so if we look at the Apple iPod Nano. When the Apple iPod Nano first generation was launched to the market, it's failure mode was cosmetic scratching. The Apple iPod Nano was released in 2005 to replace the iPod Mini. Weeks after its release, Apple received a large number of complaints. What happened was the screens weren't properly coated. And as a result, they were prone to scratching. Lawsuits were then brought against Apple under consumer protection statutes. And the Nano second generation had to be released a year after the original model. In 2009 Apple agreed to pay $22.5 million in settlements. Let's take a look at another example. The Challenger space shuttle, which exploded shortly after launch on January 28, 1986. The cause of this disaster was identified as a number of factors. There was a design flaw in the primary O ring seal in the solid fuel rocket. There was a lack of fail safe mechanisms in the system. And environmental conditions on the day affected the performance of the O ring. What basically happened was it was necessary to transport the solid rocket boosters by rail car from Utah to the Florida launch site. To allow for this, the SRBs were made in sections, with each section been sealed against the next by a pair of large washers, the O rings. The effect of low temperature on the morning of the launch caused the O rings to harden. And during launch, they were unable to fulfil their function. Unfortunately, analysis had not been performed sufficiently to identify the effects of the design flaw, nor the consequences. And there'd been a lack of communication between all the parties Page 1/2 involved in the overall product to the explosion of the shuttle engineering be addressed? Well, that it should be identified as designed. development process. Unfortunately, this led on launch. So when should reliability from those two examples, what you realise is early as possible in a new product or process To solve problems when they're still simple theories is much easier than waiting until they've actually occurred. 90% of all system failures could have been predicted and avoided. There are a variety of design methods for failure analysis and reliability engineering. Some examples are a root cause analysis, poke yoke, failure mode effect analysis. We'll look at some of these in greater detail in other videos. Page 2/2