Fundamentals of Environmental and Use Conditions

podcast episode

An element of a complete reliability goal statement involves a product’s environment and use conditions. The ability to define these clearly during the design process is not always easy yet a valuable addition to your reliability program.

The environment is essentially the weather about your product, yet what about the local environment for the power supply within your product? Does the environmental set of stresses change over time? Do the stresses of assembly, transport, storage, or use pose significant risks leading to failure?

Also important is how often and what manner does the customer use the product. Are there different failure mechanisms posing a risk of failure when a product is not used often versus used very often?

Let’s talk about building an environmental manual for a family of products including which stresses to include. We’ll also discuss connecting data collection efforts to specific failure mechanisms, along with ways to keep the list of environmental stresses relevant for your newest development efforts.

Saying a product I used outdoors or in a computer center may convey the general idea, yet your design team, vendors, and your own life testing work require understanding with sufficient detail the where and how the product is likely to find itself in operation.

Bring your questions and let’s discuss understanding the environment and use conditions that impact the performance of your product in the hands of your customers. This is more than just a batch of environmental tests and much more useful.

This Accendo Reliability webinar originally broadcast on 12 June 2018.