> We are designing a few LED based products that are built around > high-brightness LEDs and have a PIC, power supply components, heat > sinks, generic electronics, etc. >=20 > The prototypes seem to be performing well in our workplace, i.e. no > extremes of temperature or humidity, no g-forces, no mishandling... >=20 > We are seeking suggestions for DIY reliability and lifetime testing of > these products, something like "Highly Accelerated Life Test" that we > could do in our own location using easily available instruments. We'd > like to do this initially at our end to catch the design flaws > ourselves, before we send the products off to a test lab that does this > professionally (but cost more). >=20 > Some examples: > 1. Oven with a pan of water for temperature and humidity testing. > 2. Oven and a refrigerator for temperature cycling. > 3. Some kind of shaker for vibration analysis. Te company I did my apprenticeship with had an oven that they used for temperature testing, it had a heating element and used CO2 for cooling. It was possible to get down to around -10C, possibly -20C (it is so long ago I cannot remember the exact temp), using this. For vibration the factory had a rotating weight driven by compressed air. It seemed to be a commercial component used to vibrate hoppers and the like for bulk powder etc. It was mounted onto a suitable frame by our workshop, and someone found that they could get two modes of vibration out of the system by hitting the frame just right - I assume this happened to change the speed of rotation of the eccentric weight. --=20 Scanned by iCritical. --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .