Reliability and Physics-of-Healthy in Mechatronics

4Reliability for a Mature Product From the Beginning of Its Useful Life: The Different Types of Tests and Their Impact on Product Reliability

The challenges with which the industry is confronted nowadays require consideration of innovative design, technologies and conditions of use. The reliability or maturation of such products could only be achieved experimentally, either by tests during the development or during the operational deployment. The risks associated with the second approach are unacceptable – to the ultimate users who demand a reliable product and to the supplier because of the detrimental image and associated costs unreliable products can cause.

This chapter presents recommended practices that represent the current best practices in the matter of building the product maturation during product development and highlighting the role of experimental testing in this maturation growth.

4.1. Introduction

The maturity of a product should be reached when its development has ended. However, the state-of-the-art technology in most industries reveals an imperfection of this maturation. Very often, this immaturity creates non-qualitative costs, especially for innovative product development. Essentially, the causes of this can be bound to deficiencies in:

• – the analysis of the product life profile (i.e. from leaving the factory to service withdrawal, including service mission and maintenance);
• – the analysis of the technical specification at the system level and its hierarchical ...