Track 2 Session 8

2:20 to 3:20 p.m. Thursday April 8, 2010

Books and Methods for Reliability Prediction of Electronic / Electromechanical / Mechanical Systems in Railway Applications

This presentation compares different handbooks and methods to perform reliability predictions of electronic, electromechanical and mechanical components for railway applications. Reliability predictions shall take into account various influencing factors, such as environmental factors and mission profiles including thermal and on/off cycles. The final goal of the reliability prediction is to get as close as possible to real data, coming from field returns of experience (RoX). The comparison with RoX data is essential to select the most suitable model for a certain application. The purpose of the presentation is to show the comparison between the reliability predictions that can be obtained with different books (MIL-HDBK 217F, IEC TR 62380) and RoX data for various types of railway applications involving electronic and mechanical components (computer based interlocking, actuators for signals, track circuits, point machines, etc.) and, in particular, to show which book seems more adequate for each type of component (electronic analog, electronic digital, etc.).

Key Words: Reliability Prediction, RoX, Comparison, MIL-HDBK 217F, IEC TR 62380, Case studies

Guido Bartoli

ALSTOM Ferroviaria S.p.A. Bologna

Italy