When a relay has demonstrated a given failure rate, is the failure rate applicable for all rated load conditions?
No. In order for a failure rate to be significant, the test conditions and the failure criteria must be stated. Without including these important factors, a failure rate is meaningless. • Why is relay reliability expressed in MCBF rather than MTBF like other electronic components? Relay failures are primarily due to functional operation (cycling) rather than the amount of time accumulated while operating. A relay manufacturer cannot anticipate the number of cycles per hour the relay will be operated when installed in equipment. If the MTBF is required, the relay user can convert MCBF into MTBF by dividing the cycling rate (operations per hour) into the MCBF. • Is MCBF a guaranteed period of failure-free service? No. An MCBF has absolutely nothing to do with the minimum rated life of a relay. An MCBF is derived from live testing a large number of relays for their minimum rated life. The number of failures that occur during the testing are then divided into the total number of completed
Related Questions
- Would a demonstrated failure rate of 0.001% per 10,000 operations (one failure per billion operations) at the 90% confidence level be a reasonable failure rate to expect from a Hi-Rel relay?
- When a relay has demonstrated a given failure rate, is the failure rate applicable for all rated load conditions?
- For the 3000zaxl, exactly what conditions will trigger the failure alarm relay?
