Novel Accelerating Life Test Method and Its Application by Combining Constan Stress and Progressive Stress

Constant stress accelerated life tests(ALTs) can be applied to obtain a high estimation accuracy of reliability measure?ments, but these are time?consuming tests. Progressive stress ALTs can yield failures more quickly but cannot guaran tee the estimation accuracy of reliability measurements. In this paper, a progressive?constant combination stress ALT is proposed to combine the merits of both tests. The optimal plan, in which the design variables are the initial pro?gressive stress level, the progressive stress ramp rate, the sample allocation proportion of the progressive stress and the constant stress level, is determined using the principle of minimizing the asymptotic variance of the maximum likelihood estimator of the natural log reliable life for the connectors. A comparison between the optimal PCCSALT plan and the CSALT plan with the same sample size and estimation accuracy shows that the test time is reduced by 13.59% by applying the PCCSALT.

Aging effect and test-retest reliability of the sinusoidal harmonic acceleration test and velocity step test using nanotorque rotatory chair

Introduction:Rotatory chair testing has been used to evaluate horizontal canal function.Frequently used tests include sinusoidal harmonic acceleration test(SHAT)and velocity step test(VST).Objectives:Assessment of age effect on the SHAT and VST and assessment of test-retest reliability of the parameters of those two tests.Methods:A prospective study was performed on 100 subjects with no ear or vestibular complaints and normal vestibular evaluation.They were divided into two groups;Group A:below 50 years of age and Group B:50 years of age or above.SHAT was presented at frequencies 0.02,0.04,0.08,0.16,0.32,0.64 Hz with a peak velocity of 60°/s.VST was performed using a maximum velocity of 100°/s with acceleration and deceleration of 200°/s2.Thirty subjects were tested twice to assess reliability.Results:Study participants ranged in age from 20 to 67 years.Regarding group A,the mean age was30.92±7.31 and 55.36±4.61 for group B.No significant differences were found in SHAT parameters between the two groups.As well,there was no significant difference in VST per-rotatory time constant,however,post-rotatory time constant was significantly longer for Group B(P value<0.05).Intraclass correlation coefficient(ICC)values showed moderate to good reliability(ICC 0.5800.818)for SHAT parameters for the lower frequencies and indicated moderate reliability for VST time constant(ICC 0.5090.652).Conclusions:Age has no significant effect on the parameters of SHAT and VST.Test-retest reliability is generally good for both tests.

Designing Adaptive Multiple Dependent State Sampling Plan for Accelerated Life Tests

A novel adaptive multiple dependent state sampling plan(AMDSSP)was designed to inspect products from a continuous manufacturing process under the accelerated life test(ALT)using both double sampling plan(DSP)and multiple dependent state sampling plan(MDSSP)concepts.Under accelerated conditions,the lifetime of a product follows the Weibull distribution with a known shape parameter,while the scale parameter can be determined using the acceleration factor(AF).The Arrhenius model is used to estimate AF when the damaging process is temperature-sensitive.An economic design of the proposed sampling plan was also considered for the ALT.A genetic algorithm with nonlinear optimization was used to estimate optimal plan parameters to minimize the average sample number(ASN)and total cost of inspection(TC)under both producer’s and consumer’s risks.Numerical results are presented to support the AMDSSP for the ALT,while performance comparisons between the AMDSSP,the MDSSP and a single sampling plan(SSP)for the ALT are discussed.Results indicated that the AMDSSP was more flexible and efficient for ASN and TC than the MDSSP and SSP plans under accelerated conditions.The AMDSSP also had a higher operating characteristic(OC)curve than both the existing sampling plans.Two real datasets of electronic devices for the ALT at high temperatures demonstrated the practicality and usefulness of the proposed sampling plan.

Accelerated Degradation Reliability Modeling and Test Data Statistical Analysis of Aerospace Electrical Connector

As few or no failures occur during accelerated life test,it is difficult to assess reliability for long-life products with traditional life tests.Reliability assessment using degradation data of product performance over time becomes a significant approach.Aerospace electrical connector is researched in this paper.Through the analysis of failure mechanism,the performance degradation law is obtained and the statistical model for degradation failure is set up; according to the research on statistical analysis methods for degradation data,accelerated life test theory and method for aerospace electrical connector based on performance degradation is proposed by improving time series analysis method,and the storage reliability is assessed for Y11X series of aerospace electrical connector with degradation data from accelerated degradation test.The result obtained is basically consistent with that obtained from accelerated life test based on failure data,and the two estimates of product＇s characteristic life only have a difference of 8.7%,but the test time shortens about a half.As a result,a systemic approach is proposed for reliability assessment of highly reliable and long-life aerospace product.

Step-stress Accelerated Degradation Test Modeling and Statistical Analysis Methods

In order to get a rapid assessment on the storage reliability of high-reliable and long-life products within the storage period, accelerated degradation test data with a large amount of reliability information of product is adopted. Conducting a constant-stress accelerated degradation test（CSADT） is generally very costly as it requires a large sample size and long time for test. To overcome this problem, it is necessary to carry out research on modeling and statistical analysis methods of step-stress accelerated degradation test （SSADT）. Taking electrical connectors as the object, a research is conducted on statistical model and assessment method for SSADT. On the basis of mixed-effect degradation path model, the statistical model of SSADT for electrical connectors is presented, the maximum likelihood method for SSADT data based on mixed-effect degradation model is proposed. SSADT accelerated by temperature stress is conducted to Y11X-1419 type of electrical connectors, and the storage reliability is assessed with the SSADT data. Compared with the result obtained from accelerated life test, the reliability estimation of 32-year storage period for electrical connectors obtained from S SADT data only have a difference of 0.869%, which validates the accuracy of the degradation model and the feasibility of the test data statistic analysis method put forward.

Analysis of Incomplete Data of Accelerated Life Testing with Competing Failure Modes

Data obtained from accelerated life testing （ALT） when there are two or more failure modes, which is commonly referred to as competing failure modes, are often incomplete. The incompleteness is mainly due to censoring, as well as masking which might be the case that the failure time is observed, but its corresponding failure mode is not identified. Because the identification of the failure mode may be expensive, or very difficult to investigate due to lack of appropriate diagnostics. A method is proposed for analyzing incomplete data of constant stress ALT with competing failure modes. It is assumed that failure modes have s-independent latent lifetimes and the log lifetime of each failure mode can be written as a linear function of stress. The parameters of the model are estimated by using the expectation maximum （EM） algorithm with incomplete data. Simulation studies are performed to check＇model validity and investigate the properties of estimates. For further validation, the method is also illustrated by an example, which shows the process of analyze incomplete data from ALT of some insulation system. Because of considering the incompleteness of data in modeling and making use of the EM algorithm in estimating, the method becomes more flexible in ALT analysis.

Optimal Design of Multiple Stresses Accelerated Life Test Plan Based on Transforming the Multiple Stresses to Single Stress

For planning optimum multiple stresses accelerated life test plans, a commonly followed guiding principle is that all parameters of the life-stress relationship should be estimated, and the number of the stress level combinations must be no less than the number of parameters of the life-stress relationship. However, the general objective of an accelerated life test（ALT） is to assess thep-th quantile of the product life distribution under normal stress. For this objective,estimating all model parameters is not necessary, and this will increase the cost of test. Based on the theoretical conclusion that the stress level combinations of the optimum multiple stresses ALT plan locate on a straight line through the origin of coordinate, it is proposed that a design idea of planning the optimum multiple stresses ALT plan through transforming the problem of designing an optimum multiple stresses ALT plan to designing an optimum single stress ALT plan. Moreover, a method of planning the optimum multiple stresses ALT plan which can avoid estimating all model parameters is established. An example shows that, the proposed plan which only has two stress level combinations could achieve an accuracy no less than the traditional plan, and save the test time and cost on one stress level combination at least; when the actual product life is less than the design value, even the deviation of the model initial parameters value is up to 20%, the variance of the estimation of thep-th quantile of the proposed plan is still smaller than the traditional plans approximately 25%. A design method is provided for planning the optimum multiple stresses ALT which uses the statistical optimum degenerate test plan as the optimum multiple stresses accelerated life test plan.

Optimal Design of Multiple Stress Constant Accelerated Life Test Plan on Non-rectangle Test Region

For optimal design of constant stress accelerated life test（CSALT） with two-stress, if the stresses could not reach the highest levels simultaneously, the test region becomes non-rectangular. For optimal CSALT design on non-rectangle test region, the present method is only focused on non-rectangle test region with simple boundary, and the optimization algorithm is based on experience which can not ensure to obtain the optimal plan. In this paper, considering the linear-extreme value model and the optimization goal to minimize the variance of lifetime estimate under normal stress, the optimal design method of two-stress type-I censored CSALT plan on general non-rectangular test region is proposed. First, two properties of optimal test plans are proved and the relationship of all the optimal test plans is determined analytically. Then, on the basis of the two properties, the optimal problem is simplified and the optimal design method of two-stress CSALT plan on general non-rectangular test region is proposed. Finally, a numerical example is used to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the method, The result shows that the proposed method could obtain the optimal test plan on non-rectangular test regions with arbitrary boundaries. This research provides the theory and method for two-stress optimal CSALT planning on non-rectangular test regions.

Optimum design of equivalent accelerated life testing plans based on proportional hazards-proportional odds model

The optimum design of equivalent accelerated life testing plan based on proportional hazards-proportional odds model using D-optimality is presented. The defined equivalent test plan is the test plan that has the same value of the determinant of Fisher information matrix. The equivalent test plan of step stress accelerated life testing （SSALT） to a baseline optimum constant stress accelerated life testing （CSALT） plan is obtained by adjusting the censoring time of SSALT and solving the optimization problem for each case to achieve the same value of the determinant of Fisher information matrix as in the baseline optimum CSALT plan. Numer- ical examples are given finally which demonstrate the equivalent SSALT plan to the baseline optimum CSALT plan reduces almost half of the test time while achieving approximately the same estimation errors of model parameters.

Laboratory and field testing of bolting systems subjected to highly corrosive environments

The capacity of ground support components which have been affected by corrosion is reduced and may ultimately lead to dynamic failure of the component and the strata. In order to maintain an effective,long-term ground support system, significant campaigns of rehabilitation are often required in corrosion affected areas which also expose the workers to hazardous conditions. The most common corrosion protection for steel ground support utilises sacrificial systems such as galvanising. Galvanising has previously been proven to be susceptible to some corrosion processes. Stainless steel is the most effective in resistance to corrosion, but can be cost prohibitive, and its mechanical properties often make it unsuited to use in ground support components. Providing an outer protective plastic coating to bolts has proven to be an effective means of protecting the inner steel bar from corrosion. However, these support systems tend to be susceptible to coating damage, and require post cement grouting to provide full encapsulation. In comparison to a standard bolt/resin system, they can be slow to install and expensive.These systems have also been shown to reduce overall load transfer performance of the bolting system. In order to provide a higher level of corrosion protection whilst maintaining current installation practices and bolting cycle times, Minova has developed the Enduro^(TM)steel ground support range. The Enduro^(TM) range consists of standard Minova steel ground support components which have been treated with a unique coating process. The Enduro^(TM)coating has been tested in the harshest of conditions, in laboratory controlled conditions and in underground trials. It has been proven to effectively resist or completely eliminate the formation of corrosion, even in the most aggressive environments. This paper explains the process and provides the details of the laboratory and underground corrosion performance testing carried out on Enduro^(TM)ground support products.

Estimation for constant-stress accelerated life test from generalized half-normal distribution

In the constant-stress accelerated life test, estimation issues are discussed for a generalized half-normal distribution under a log-linear life-stress model. The maximum likelihood estimates with the corresponding fixed point type iterative algorithm for unknown parameters are presented, and the least square estimates of the parameters are also proposed. Meanwhile, confidence intervals of model parameters are constructed by using the asymptotic theory and bootstrap technique. Numerical illustration is given to investigate the performance of our methods.

Design of Accelerated Life Test Plans——Overview and Prospect

Accelerated life test(ALT) is currently the main method of assessing product reliability rapidly, and the design of efficient test plans is a critical step to ensure that ALTs can assess the product reliability accurately, quickly, and economically. With the promotion of the national strategy of civil-military integration, ALT will be widely used in the research and development(R&D) of various types of products, and the ALT plan design theory will face further challenges. To aid engineers in selecting appropriate theories and to stimulate researchers to develop the theories required in engineering, with focus on the demands for theory research that arise from the implementation of ALT, this paper reviews and summarizes the development of ALT plan design theory. The development of the theory and method for planning optimal ALT for location-scale distribution, which is the most applied and mature theory of designing the optimal ALT plan, are described in detail. Taking this as the center of radiation, some problems that ALT now faces, such as the verification of the statistical model, limitation of sample size, solutions of resource limits, optimization of the test arrangement, and management of product complexity, are discussed, and the general ideas and methods of solving these problems are analyzed. Suggestions for selecting appropriate ALT plan design theories are proposed, and the urgent solved theory problems and opinions of their solutions are proposed. Based on the principle of convenience for engineers to select appropriate methods according to the problems found in practice, this paper reviews the development of optimal ALT plan design theory by taking the engineering problems arising from the ALT implementation as the main thread, provides guidelines on selecting appropriate theories for engineers, and proposes opinions about the urgent solved theory problems for researchers.

Bayesian optimal design of step stress accelerated degradation testing

This study presents a Bayesian methodology for de- signing step stress accelerated degradation testing （SSADT） and its application to batteries. First, the simulation-based Bayesian de- sign framework for SSADT is presented. Then, by considering his- torical data, specific optimal objectives oriented Kullback-Leibler （KL） divergence is established. A numerical example is discussed to illustrate the design approach. It is assumed that the degrada- tion model （or process） follows a drift Brownian motion; the accele- ration model follows Arrhenius equation; and the corresponding parameters follow normal and Gamma prior distributions. Using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo （MCMC） method and WinBUGS software, the comparison shows that KL divergence is better than quadratic loss for optimal criteria. Further, the effect of simulation outiiers on the optimization plan is analyzed and the preferred sur- face fitting algorithm is chosen. At the end of the paper, a NASA lithium-ion battery dataset is used as historical information and the KL divergence oriented Bayesian design is compared with maxi- mum likelihood theory oriented locally optimal design. The results show that the proposed method can provide a much better testing plan for this engineering application.

A New Approach of Studying Correlation between Outdoor Exposure and Indoor Accelerated Corrosion Test for High Polymer Materials

The correlation between outdoor exposure and indoor accelerated corrosion test for high polymer materials was investigated according to the variation of the functional group of exposure models aged. Environment aging intensities at different zones （ Wuhan and Lasa with the same latitude ） and the influences of indoor accelerating factors including water and ultraviolet on weathering performant.e of high polymer materials were also studied by comparing different indoor accelerated corrosion testing results. The experimental results show that ： by testing variations of carbonyl exponent of polythene （ which represented the degradation behavior of high polymer materials due to ultraviolet oxidation of douIole bond） and ultraviolet absorbance of polycarbonate （which represented the degradation behavior of high polymer materials due to abevacuation of branched chain ）, the degradation behavior of high polymer materials could be studied. Carbonyl exponent of polythene exposed in Wuhan and Lasa for 1 year was equal to that exposed in indoor cycle ultraviolet for 128 h anti 170 It, respectively, the ultraviolet absorbance of polycarbonate exposed in Wuhan for 1 year was equal to that exposed in indoor cycle ultraviolet for 240 h. The ratio of environment aging intensity of Lasa to Wuhan was around 1.2. With the prolongation of cycle accelerated ultraviolet exposure time, the variations of carbonyl exponent of polythene and the ultraviolet absorbance of polycarbonate were in the same shape of first order exponential decay curiae. Accompanied with ultraviolet, the effect of water condensated on the sample on weathering performance of polythene was more .significant than that of polycarbonate.

A Study of Estimating the Safe Storage Life, Self-accelerating Decomposition Temperature and Critical Temperature of Thermal Explosion of Double-base Propellant Using Isothermal and Non-isothermal Decomposition Behaviours

A method of estimating the safe storage life （τ）, self-accelerating decomposition temperature （TsADT） and critical temperature of thermal explosion （Tb） of double-base propellant using isothermal and non-isothermal decomposition behaviours is presented. For double-base propellant composed of 56±1wt% of nitrocellulose （NC）, 27±0.5wt% of nitroglycerine （NG）, 8.15±0.15wt% of dinitrotoluene （DNT）, 2.5±0.1wt% of methyl centralite, 5.0±0.15wt% of catalyst and 1.0±0.1wt% of other, the values of r of 49.4 years at 40℃, of TSAOT of 151.35℃ and of Tb of 163.01℃ were obtained.

Life test research of a high specific impulse Hall thruster HEP-140MF

In this study,a high specific impulse Hall thruster,HEP-140 MF,having a high discharge voltage,was used to accelerate ions.We aimed to obtain a high specific impulse and an acceleration zone moving downstream toward the channel exit to reduce wall sputtering erosion of the walls of the discharge channel,hence ensuring an enhanced lifetime.To study the lifetime characteristics of the high specific impulse Hall thruster,a life test was performed on the HEP-140 MF thruster for the first time,and performance parameters,such as thrust,specific impulse,and efficiency,were measured.Changes in the performance parameters and evolutions in the surface profiles of the discharge channel wall were summarized.The reasons contributing to these changes during the life test were analyzed.Moreover,the accelerated life test method was validated on the HEP-140 MF.

Efficient Method for Accelerated Reliability Qualification Testing

Based on the theoretical inference and experiment verification,a method was proposed to carry out the accelerated reliability qualification testing. First,theoretical inference was used to get the acceleration coefficients of super Gauss vibration stress and temperature stress. Then, by applying these coefficients, an accelerated reliability qualification testing curve was obtained from the standard tests. Finally,the actual experiment on a digital marine control device was carried out under the proposed testing method.The experiment result shows that the proposed method can reduce the total experiment time and improve the efficiency of the reliability qualification test.

Inference for constant-stress accelerated life test with Type-I progressively hybrid censored data from Burr-XII distribution

This paper proposes a simple constant-stress accel- erated life test （ALT） model from Burr type XII distribution when the data are Type-I progressively hybrid censored. The maximum likelihood estimation （MLE） of the parameters is obtained through the numerical method for solving the likelihood equations. Approxi- mate confidence interval （CI）, based on normal approximation to the asymptotic distribution of MLE and percentile bootstrap Cl is derived. Finally, a numerical example is introduced and then a Monte Carlo simulation study is carried out to illustrate the pro- posed method.

Constant-Step Stress Accelerated Life Test of VFD under Logarithmic Normal Distribution Case

In order to solve the life problem of vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) within shorter time, and reduce the life prediction cost, a constant-step stress accelerated life test was performed with its cathode temperature increased. Statistical analysis was done by applying logarithmic normal distribution for describing the life, and least square method (LSM) for estimating logarithmic normal parameters. Self-designed special software was used to predict the VFD life. It is verified by numerical results that the VFD life follows logarithmic normal distribution, and that the life-stress relationship satisfies linear Arrhenius equation completely. The accurate calculation of the key parameters enables the rapid estimation of VFD life.

Bayesian Analysis in Partially Accelerated Life Tests for Weighted Lomax Distribution

Accelerated life testing has been widely used in product life testing experiments because it can quickly provide information on the lifetime distributions by testing products or materials at higher than basic conditional levels of stress,such as pressure,temperature,vibration,voltage,or load to induce early failures.In this paper,a step stress partially accelerated life test(SSPALT)is regarded under the progressive type-II censored data with random removals.The removals from the test are considered to have the binomial distribution.The life times of the testing items are assumed to follow lengthbiased weighted Lomax distribution.The maximum likelihood method is used for estimating the model parameters of length-biased weighted Lomax.The asymptotic confidence interval estimates of the model parameters are evaluated using the Fisher information matrix.The Bayesian estimators cannot be obtained in the explicit form,so the Markov chain Monte Carlo method is employed to address this problem,which ensures both obtaining the Bayesian estimates as well as constructing the credible interval of the involved parameters.The precision of the Bayesian estimates and the maximum likelihood estimates are compared by simulations.In addition,to compare the performance of the considered confidence intervals for different parameter values and sample sizes.The Bootstrap confidence intervals give more accurate results than the approximate confidence intervals since the lengths of the former are less than the lengths of latter,for different sample sizes,observed failures,and censoring schemes,in most cases.Also,the percentile Bootstrap confidence intervals give more accurate results than Bootstrap-t since the lengths of the former are less than the lengths of latter for different sample sizes,observed failures,and censoring schemes,in most cases.Further performance comparison is conducted by the experiments with real data.