Accelerated Life Cycle Testing of a Case Handle

A leading commercial product manufacturer contracted DES to perform Accelerated Life Cycle Testing of a case handle.  A sample of the test can be seen below and in our video library. The handle had to be opened and closed many thousands of times during its life time. In addition, two thirds of the cycles had to be completed with the sample exposed to hot and cold temperatures.


DES has considerable capability to complete push pull reliability testing.  The main challenge for this project was that one third of the cycles had to be completed at -7 °C and one third had to be completed at +49 °C.  This was difficult because DES did not want to expose a precision actuator to extreme hot/cold temperatures because it could be damaged.  Therefore the case was placed inside of a large temperature chamber while the actuator was located outside of the chamber.  The chamber had to be large because the case was big and the handle extended 18 inches.  DES made a special link to connect between the case handle and actuator.  The link moved through a sealed chamber access port.  A frame was built around the case to hold it in place while the handle was pulled opened and pushed closed.

The push/pull cycling motion was performed using a special actuator.  The actuator travel, velocity and acceleration were programmed into a controller.  The number of cycles was automatically counted until failure or thousands of cycles were completed.  During the test, the force to open and close the handle was measured at various intervals.

The Accelerated Life Cycle Test was completed successfully providing highly useful results to the customer.  This was a unique challenge to perform push pull reliability testing at extreme hot and cold temperatures.  Please visit our video library to see more examples of DES’s capabilities.

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