Why Suppliers Should No Longer Be Trusted for Reliable Products

In a recent invited keynote at the 2018 3^rd International Conference on System Reliability and Safety (ICRE2018), Professor Pecht argued that many well-known suppliers and equipment manufacturers have consistently falsified product data, ignored defective product reports, and engaged in deceptive practices.

His talk, titled “Why Suppliers Should No Longer Be Trusted for Reliable Products” cited several recent companies whom have deceived the public regarding their products and practices. Additionally, this talk provided standards for detecting fraudulent activity from these companies and to help mitigate any associated risks.

Prof. Pecht’s ongoing work with Heriot-Watt University and the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics was presented by Lucas Kirschbaum, student of Heriot-Watt University, during the Electromechanical System Monitoring and Reliability Assessment session in a publication titled “Failure Analysis Informing Embedded Health Monitoring of Electromagnetic Relays,” (abstract below).

Prof. Pecht and CALCE have been collaborating since earlier this year when Prof. Pechted was named the chair of the international scientific board for the Offshore Robotics for Certification of Assessets (ORCA) Hub—a consortium that includes Heriot-Watt and the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics.

Abstract: In this paper, failure analysis of an electromagnetic relay is studied to inform embedded health monitoring for the prediction of Remaining Useful Life (RUL) of electromagnetic relays. A statistical design of experiment with online monitoring of voltage, current, temperature, resistance, duty cycle, and frequency is used to identify relay failure precursors. Examples of detected precursors include abnormal spikes in resistance and extension of the average closing time of the relay within the final 1.5 million actuations prior to failure. A detailed post-failure analysis utilising white light interferometry and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis reveals the relay failure modes associated with erosion, pit and crater formation, and material transfer. The results demonstrate that low resolution data can detect signatures of impending failure modes such as stuck open and closed failures as well as unacceptable long opening times. The findings within this paper demonstrate remote monitoring of the near real-time health of electromagnetic relays with low-resolution data analysis.

Published December 10, 2018