Design of PH-based accelerated life testing plans under multiple-stress-type

• Published in: Reliability engineering & system safety Vol. 92; no. 3; pp. 286 - 292
• Main Authors: Elsayed, E.A., Zhang, Hao
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2007; Elsevier
• Subjects: Accelerated life testing (ALT); ALT plans; Applied sciences; Exact sciences and technology; Operational research and scientific management; Operational research. Management science; Proportional hazards model; Reliability predication; Reliability theory. Replacement problems; Sensitivity analysis; Sensitivity analysis; Reliability predication; Accelerated life testing (ALT); ALT plans; Proportional hazards model; Rupture; Failures; Modeling; Optimization; Accelerated aging test; Minimum time; Numerical analysis; Break up time; pH; Occupation time; Reliability; Risk management
• ISSN: 0951-8320; 1879-0836
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ress.2006.04.016

Accelerated life testing (ALT) is used to obtain failure time data quickly under high stress levels in order to predict product life performance under design stress conditions. Most of the previous work on designing ALT plans is focused on the application of a single stress. However, as components or products become more reliable due to technological advances, it becomes more difficult to obtain significant amount of failure data within reasonable amount of time using single stress only. Multiple-stress-type ALTs have been employed as a means of overcoming such difficulties. In this paper, we design optimum multiple-stress-type ALT plans based on the proportional hazards model. The optimum combinations of stresses and their levels are determined such that the variance of the reliability estimate of the product over a specified period of time is minimized. The use of the model is illustrated using numerical example, and sensitivity analysis shows that the resultant optimum ALT plan is robust to the deviation in model parameters.