Acceleration Factor Constant Principle and the Application under ADT

Abstract

Accelerated degradation test (ADT) has become an efficient approach to evaluate the reliability for highly reliable products. However, when modeling accelerated degradation data with degradation models, it is difficult to exactly figure out the changing rules of parameters with stress variables varying. At present, the changing rules are mainly assumed according to engineering experience or subjective judgements, which probably results in inaccurately extrapolating the reliability. To figure out the changing rules of parameters with stress variables varying, the acceleration factor constant principle and its application under ADT are studied in the paper. It is well known that the acceleration factor between any two different stress levels should be a constant under an effective ADT. For each degradation model, its parameters should obey special changing rules to satisfy that the acceleration factor maintains a constant throughout an ADT. Taking three extensively used stochastic process models as examples, including Wiener process model, gamma process model, and inverse Gaussian process model, the method of deducing the changing rules of the parameters according to the acceleration factor constant principle was demonstrated. A simulation test was conducted to validate the deduced changing rules of the parameters for the three stochastic process models. An illustrative example involving self‐regulating heating cables was used to illustrate the application of the acceleration factor constant principle under ADT. Results indicate that the acceleration factor constant principle offers an appealing and credible approach to help model accelerated degradation data. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.