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#1 Posted : 13 February 2008 10:17:00(UTC)
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Posted By Martin Brown Good morning all, Would anyone be kind enough to advise me in lamen terms, with reference to component reliability what is the bath-tub curve? How it could assist in defining the likelihood and predictability of component failure. I am trying to develop an understanding as it is an area I am not exposed to, with the aim of developing my health & safety knowledge. MartB
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#2 Posted : 13 February 2008 10:24:00(UTC)
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Posted By Jane Blunt The bathtub curve is a plot of failure rate on the vertical axis, and time on the horizontal axis. When a product/system is new, it tends to have a high failure rate due to initial bugs, etc. the failure rate then falls to a fairly low steady state. When the product/system gets old the failure rate rises again as parts begin to wear out or fall apart. There is a good article in Wikipedia. Google 'bathtub curve' Jane Blunt
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#3 Posted : 13 February 2008 10:30:00(UTC)
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Posted By Tabs Spot on Jane. I might add that initial bugs etc., includes build quality - perhaps not such a big factor these days, but it used to be.
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#4 Posted : 13 February 2008 10:32:00(UTC)
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Posted By Martin Brown Thank you Jane, Found details on Bathtub curve on Wikipedia as advised.
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#5 Posted : 13 February 2008 11:33:00(UTC)
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Posted By Mike Charleston Be aware that reliability is heavily tied in with maintenance and there is an entire culture devoted to getting the best reliability from existing equipment, taking account of the HS&E concerns before all other considerations. There are many more curves beyond the popular perception of just a "Bathtub". If you want to know more, look at the technique known as Reliability Centred Maintenance. Here's one such site: http://www.aladon.com/papersandarticles.shtml (the "Introduction" paper explains enough for a general appreciation of the topic). Mike
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#6 Posted : 13 February 2008 13:36:00(UTC)
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Posted By Julian Meer (at Work) I haven't read all the wikipedia links, etc, but in case they don't mention it, the bath tub curve is only true for random failures. It will not hold true for systematic failures, e.g. an instrument fundamentally wrong for an environment, an apparatus improperly maintained, etc.
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