E-Book Overview
This classic text has now been completely revised and updated, making it an ideal introductory course in reliability for a wide range of engineering qualifications, including City & Guilds 8030 and HNC/Ds. A new chapter focuses on the role of the microprocessor and microcomputer controller, and the use of algorithms for monitoring system performance. The addition of numerous problems, self-check questions and exam-style questions makes this an extremely useful book for courses with an element of independent study. G W A Dummer was born in 1909, and his career included pioneering work in the field of radar. Working on radar reliability in the early fifties, he became the first person in the world to propose and pioneer the integrated circuit. In recognition of his distinguished career, he has received the USA Medal of Freedom and the MBE. Mike Tooley is Director of Curriculum and quality at Brooklands College, Surrey and a well-known author of textbooks in microelectronics and engineering. He currently teaches reliability. R C Winton, MBE, worked for Mullard for 40 years, and played an important role on may committees such as the CBI Education and Training Committee. He was also a key figure at the IEEE, becoming Secretary of the UK and Republic of Ireland section. A basic text in reliability ideal for a wide range of engineering courses A classic brought fully up to date for today's students New self-check questions make this book suitable for independent study
E-Book Content
An Elementary Guide to Reliability
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An Elementary Guide to Reliability FIFTH E D I T I O N
G. W. A. Dummer MBE, CEng, FLEE, FIEEE
M. H. Tooley BA, Director of Curriculum and Quality (Brooklands College) and
R. C. Winton MBE, BSc(Eng), ACGI, CEng, FlEE
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Butterworth-Heinemann Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP A division of Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd -~A
member of the Reed Elsevier plc group
OXFORD BOSTON JOHANNESBURG MELBOURNE NEW DELHI SINGAPORE First published 1968 Second edition 1974 Third edition 1986 Fourth edition 1990 Fifth edition 1997 Transferred to digital printing 2005 9G. W. A. Dummer, M. H. Tooley and R. C. Winton 1997 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England Wl P 9HE. Applications for the copyright holder's written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publishers British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 7506 3553 3
Typeset by Avocet Typeset, Brill, Aylesbury, Bucks Printed and bound by Antony Rowe Ltd, Eastbourne
Contents Introduction Acknowledgements
vii ix
1 The importance of reliability 2 Definitions of reliability General relationship between terms Equipment failure pattern during life
3 Some simple statistics
11
The product law of reliability Confidence levels The language of reliability statisticians
How reliability is calculated
20
Physics of failure Failure rates of electronic components and microelectronics To summarize reliability assessment procedure Derating to improve reliability Values of MTBF Life expectancy = mean life Redundancy Reliability in manufa