Life Cycle Profile Development for Product Reliability Assessment

ABSTRACT The life cycle profile (LCP) is a catalog of all the expected loads a given product experiences across its lifetime, from the completion of product manufacture to the end of operation and removal from service. This paper outlines a procedure for developing an LCP, including cataloging estimates of the loads the product experiences over its lifetime. This work also provides methodologies for accounting for variations in the LCP and resources for estimating, identifying, and modeling different loads in each life cycle step. Understanding the LCP and the loads that act on the product during its lifetime allows for evaluating its ability to satisfy its reliability requirements. Validating the product's reliability results in more confidence in the product and improves the credibility of the entity developing the product. This approach is exemplified by the exercise of developing an LCP for a discrete insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) used by a home appliances manufacturer. Finally, the paper provides a sample approach for developing a qualification test procedure using the LCP.