reliability goals 1

[jbthiel]

Does anyone have experience trying to set up different reliability goals for different systems of an off-highway vehicle?

My boss was in the stone age with his design goal of XXX hrs/yr. I asked how many years? - he didn't know. I asked what percentile of customer, 80th? - he didn't know.

After getting a higher power involved it was desided to plan for X yrs and XX percentile customer, but with different expectations depending on the system. Example: engine, trans, axles can have no failures in 5 yrs. Other minor failures are apparently OK, as long as there aren't too many.

The specifics haven't been decided yet, but I am starting to think that it will be too complicated. Any comments, ideas, experiences would be appreciated.

 

[IRstuff]

You can start by reviewing the warranty provisions of various models of cars. Then, assume that the off-roading will accelerate the failures.

Another source of data, if it exists, is the failure data for existing vehicles of that sort.

There are physics of failure models used in the prognostics industry that try to predict when failures will occur. This could be adapted for your particular environment and allow you to determine what parts of the design would need to be beefed up to achieve the desired reliability goals.

TTFN