• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.24-31
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• 2021

Renewable energy has become more popular with the increase in the use of solar power. Consequently, the disposal of defective and old solar panels is gradually increasing giving rise to a new problem. Furthermore, the efficiency and power output decreases with aging. Researchers worldwide are engaged in solving this problem by developing eco-module technologies that restore and reuse the solar panels according to the defect types rather than simple disposal. The eco-module technology not only solves the environmental problem, but also has economic advantages, such as extending the module life. Replacement of encapsulants contributes to a major portion of the module maintenance plan, as the degradation of encapsulants accounts for 60% of the problems found in modules over the past years. However, the current International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard testing was designed for the commercialization of solar modules. As the problem caused by long-term use is not considered, this method is not suitable for the quality assurance evaluation of the eco-module. Therefore, to design a new accelerated test, this paper provides an overview of EVA degradation and comparison with the IEC and accelerated tests.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.271-277
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• 2014

Hydraulic reciprocating seals have been widely used to prevent fluid leakage and to provide lubricant film on counter surface in various hydraulic system. The degradation of the seal may cause the catastrophic failure of the hydraulic system. To assess the durability of the seals and the compatibility with counter surface, accelerated life testing (ALT) has been typically employed from industry. However, ALT often takes up to a few months to cause a failure of the seals, and therefore, there is a need to develop more efficient ALT methods. In this work, the degradation characteristics of polyurethane (PU) seals from field test are investigated and they are compared to those from the component and bench tests, with an aim to contribute to the development of ALT method. From the comparison of the cross-sectional profiles of the sealing surface of the PU specimens before and after the tests, both wear and compression set are found to be responsible for degradation of the PU seals. It is also shown that the major wear mechanisms of the PU seals from the field is abrasive wear and formation of pits. The component and bench tests performed in this work are shown to reproduce such wear mechanisms, and therefore, those test methods can be used as an ALT method for PU seals. In particular, the bench test proposed in this work may be effectively utilized to assess the durability and the compatibility of the seals with the counter surface. The results of this work are expected to aid in the design of ALT for PU seal.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.1161-1166
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• 2010

Tapered roller bearings are core components of rotating machine parts and are simultaneously subjected to axial and radial loads. Life-shortening effect was particularly evident in the case of tapered roller bearings used in the input and output shafts of transmission; this shortening of life was a result of excessive axial pre-load, which is common in the transmission assembly line. In this study, we derived an equation for evaluating the life of tapered roller bearings subjected to excessive pre-load by using accelerated life test data. The DOE(Design Of Experiment) method and FEA(Finite Element Analysis) was used for determining the condition for performing an accelerated life test. This equation for evaluating the service life of the bearings was derived by analyzing the Weibull distribution of the test results. Using the derived equation the life evaluated was 6-7 times longer than that evaluated by the conventional $L_{10}$ bearing-life equation. The results of this study will be helpful in predicting the life of tapered roller bearings subjected to excessive pre-load and in designing reliable rotating machines.

• Carbon letters
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• v.28
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• pp.9-15
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• 2018

In the aerospace field, Carbon/Cork composites have been used for rocket propulsion systems as a light weight structural component with a high bending stiffness and high thermal insulation properties. For the fabrication of a carbon composite with a heat insulation cork part, the bonding properties between them are very important to determine the service life of the Carbon/Cork composite structure. In this study, the changes in the interfacial adhesion and mechanical properties of Carbon/Cork composites under accelerated aging conditions were investigated. The accelerated aging experiments were performed with different temperatures and humidity conditions. The properties of the aged Carbon/Cork composites were evaluated mainly with the interfacial strength. Finally, the lifetime prediction of the Carbon/Cork composites was performed with the long-term property data under accelerated conditions.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2002.07a
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• pp.536-540
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• 2002

In this paper, accelerated life test (ALT) models and procedures for Magnetic Switch (MS) are developed and applied to assure specified reliability of the products at development phase and guarantee the life of the products. Magnetic contactor that functions with over-current relay is called MS. Magnetic contactor closes and opens the motor load with ON/OFF switch of electronic contactor. It is also used for protecting and controlling the load. Magnetic contactor detects the over-current flow in the load with a over-current relay and disconnects the load by opening its control power. In this study, ALT models for MS are developed using the relationship between stresses and life characteristics of products. Using the ALT models, we performed life tests and analyzed the tests results. The proposed ALT models and procedures may be extended and applied to testing similar kinds of products to reduce test times and costs of the tests remarkably. Finally the results of this study will contribute to improving reliability of products and strengthening competitiveness of our products in world markets.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2014

Inverter module, which feeds the converted power to the traction motor for EMU. Consists of the power semiconductors with their gate drive unit(GDU)s and the control computer for driving, voltage, current and speed controls. Electrolytic condenser, connected to the gate drive unit and a core component to drive the power semiconductor, has problems such as reduction in lifetime and malfunction caused by electrical and mechanical characteristic changes from heat generation during high speed switching for generation of stable power. In this study, To check the service life of electrolytic condenser, the test was carried out in two ways. First, In the case of accelerated life testing of condenser, the Arrhenius model is a way of life testing. Another way is to analyze the reliability of the failure data by the method of parametric data analysis. Eventually, life time by accelerated life test than a method of failure data analysis(Weibull distribution) was found to be slightly larger output.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.3 no.6
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• pp.154-161
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• 1995

There are several kinds of driving conditions according to the characteristic of each vehicle diver. Automaker produces vehicle strong enough to satisfy this several driving conditions at the point of vehicle durability. In order to develop the car in a short period, Automaker engineer tests vehicle at serveral accelerated durability test roads. Before testing the vehicle durability, test engineer must know how much this test road severe than general field road which is composed of high way, city road, paved road and unpaved road. This paper suggests two types of road severity test method that is using relative fatigue life prediction method and using absolute fatigue life prediction method, and also present the merits and demerits of two test methods.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.241-248
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• 2019

In this paper, we aim to check the reliability growth of multiple launch rocket components by the life evaluation. We apply the Crow-AMSAA model to the sets of test data obtained from the development phase. The result of the data analysis shows that the reliability of some components needs to be improved. In order to improve their reliability, we analyze the failure mechanism and change their designs. The verification of the reliability growth for those components is done by analyzing the data sets obtained by the accelerated life tests. As a result, we show that the MTBF of those components is increased and also their reliabilities improved.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.95-108
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• 1991

For the case where the lifetime at a constant stress level has exponential distribution, optimal accelerated life test plans are developed under the assumptions of intermittent inspection and Type I censoring. In a optimal plan, the low and high stress levels, the proportion of test units allocated and the inspection times at each stress are determined such that the asymptotic variance of the maximum likelihood estimator of logarithmic transformed mean at the use condition is minimized. In addition to the optimal plan in which numerical technique to solve the set of nonlinear equations must be employed to determine inspection times at each stress level, we also propose another plans which employ equally-spaced or equal probability inspection schemes at two overstress levels of corresponding optimal one. For both optimal and proposed plans, computational results indicate that the asymptotic variance of the estimated mean at the use stress is insensitive to number of inspections at overstress levels for the range of parameter values considered.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.44-58
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• 1996

This paper presents optimal accelerated life test plans with different censoring times for exponential, Weibull, and lognormal lifetime distributions, respectively. For an optimal plan, low stress level, proportion of test units allocated and censoring time at each stress are determined such that the asymptotic variance of the maximum likelihood estimator of a certain quantile at use condition is minimized. The proposed plans are compared with the corresponding optimal plans with a common censoring time over range of parameter values. Computational results indicate that those plans are statistically optimal ones in terms of accuracy of estimator when total censoring times of two plans are equal.