A methodological approach to fully automated highly accelerated life tests

Highly accelerated life test (HALT) is a test methodology to evaluate reliability of mechanical and electromechanical devices. HALT is often used on devices that must be guaranteed for high reliability over a long time span. HALT simulates the life cycle of the device, usually until it experiments a failure. HALT tests are used to assess reliability of devices at the end of the production cycle, but are also used to improve the design and manufacturing process, allowing to find and correct potential problems when changes to the production process are less costly. HALT tests are usually difficult and time consuming, and there is a strong need for their automation. This paper proposes a methodology to design software and hardware for HALT automated tests. The goals pursued are to standardize the test process, to reduce the need for manual commands at the minimum and to simplify the data gathering process. The methodology proposed starts from domain requirement analysis and is conceived to be as general as possible, with the goal to make it easily extensible and adaptable to multiple testing domains. Finally, the paper reports on a case study describing a HALT test device designed according to the proposed methodology and currently in use to test electromechanical actuators.