Leveraging Highly Accelerated Life Testing for Aerospace Products
Aerospace products achieve unmatched reliability through Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT) in our lab, minimizing failures.
Medical Device Industry: Producing Reliable Products
In the fast-evolving medical device industry, the pathway to market success is marked by stringent standards. Delserro Engineering Solutions (DES) plays a pivotal role in this journey, offering expert testing services for both medical devices and their packaging. Recognizing that each product—from intricate surgical instruments to complex diagnostic machinery—requires rigorous scrutiny, DES employs cutting-edge environmental, vibration, HALT, and shock testing in its state-of-the-art facilities. The comprehensive range of tests at DES is designed to address the specific challenges faced by medical devices in real-world conditions. By simulating various environmental factors and stressors, DES ensures that both the device and its…
HALT Testing: When Should You Perform It?
Highly Accelerated Life Testing, or HALT, is a technique used in the industry to speed up the design and test phases of product development, as well as limit the number of field failures and thus reduce warranty costs incurred by the manufacturer. HALT Testing can be a competitive advantage for companies when performed correctly and at the right time. The best time to begin HALT testing during the product development process is when prototypes first become available. HALT is designed to expose product flaws and weaknesses, therefore, a successful test will produce areas for product improvement. A lot of designers…
How to Implement a HASS Program
This article is a general outline on how to implement a HASS program after a successful HALT has been performed and corrective actions have been completed for any weaknesses found during HALT. For more information about HASS, please read our blog, What is HASS Testing? For more information about HALT, please read our blogs What is HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Testing) and Why Perform HALT? What Kind of Failures Occur During HALT? What Equipment is Used for HALT? What is a Typical HALT Procedure?
What is HASS Testing?
HASS is an acronym for Highly Accelerated Stress Screening. HASS is performed during manufacturing on production products or components. It is a screening method used to expose manufacturing defects that would cause a failure in normal field environments including shipping, storage and use.
A Primer for HAST: Highly Accelerated Stress Testing
The HAST acronym stands for Highly Accelerated Temperature/Humidity Stress Test and is sometimes shortened to Highly Accelerated Stress Testing. HAST makes use of accelerated temperature and humidity conditions to precipitate failures which could be caused by long term exposure to humid environments. HAST has been developed to replace Temperature-Humidity-Bias (THB) testing which has typical conditions of 85 ⁰C and 85 % RH along with a bias voltage applied to the sample. A typical THB test time would be 1000 hours. HAST uses increased test temperatures of 110 to 130 ⁰C which decreases the test time to as low as 96…
Circuit Board HALT Testing Case Study
Customer Goal A customer approached DES looking to perform Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT) on a new circuit board design. DES and the customer agreed to test the circuit boards using DES’s traditional HALT test procedure which calls for hot/cold temperature steps followed by rapid temperature ramping, vibration steps and combined temperature and vibration stresses. HALT testing on electrical componentry is quite common across industry to expose design weaknesses; both mechanical and electrical (What is HALT and Why Perform HALT?). Typical failures include poor solder connections, overheating, component failure, etc. (What Kind Of Failures Occur During HALT?)
Rapid HALT – A Cost Effective Alternative to HALT
Rapid Highly Accelerated Life Testing or Rapid HALT is a reliability test method that is used to expose product weaknesses. A Rapid HALT procedure is a modification of a Classical HALT procedure. For more information about Classical HALT procedures, refer to the following blog articles: What is HALT Highly Accelerated Life Testing and why perform HALT? What is a typical HALT procedure? A Rapid HALT is an abbreviated HALT, typically one day of tests, making it a great cost-effective solution for those seeking faster qualitative results. Exposing a product to a Rapid HALT early in the design process can help…
Cooling Fan Reliability Testing Case Study
Customer Challenge A customer approached DES looking to find an accelerated test solution for an AC powered cooling fan used in one of their products. The product had been established in the marketplace and the company was now looking for ways to reduce cost by looking at different cooling fan suppliers. Most fans, however, have a mean life rated for over 20,000 hours, so a typical accelerated life test would require a significant amount of time and money.
What Kind Of Failures Occur During HALT?
Product failures in HALT testing are defined as either the cessation of any functions or an out-of-specification condition for any performance characteristic. When a failure occurs, it is documented in DES’s HALT log. The exact time and test condition when each failure occurred is noted. If the product fails to operate, the temperature or vibration will be changed toward ambient room conditions followed by a short dwell period to see if the product recovers. If the product is non-operational after dwelling at ambient conditions, trouble shooting will take place to find the failed component. The failed component will then be…