Abstract:

This article presents a critique of the IPC standard (IPC-9591) on air moving devices for the electronics industry, published in 2006. We investigated the applicability of the methods specified by IPC-9591. A fatigue life and a grease life of ball bearings in the fans were calculated using the stress-life method and grease life equation, respectively. The calculated life was compared to the experimental results of the fans. In addition, the mean time to failure of fan electronics was calculated using multiple methods specified by IPC-9591 and validated with experimental results of the fans. Through these exercises, the reliability prediction methods for air moving devices were shown to be flawed. We make recommendations for IPC and the industry on appropriate methods of reliability assessment for air moving devices.

Index Terms: Air moving device (AMD), cooling fan, failure model, reliability.

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