Reliability design of residential sized refrigerators subjected to repetitive random vibration loads during rail transport

During railroad shipment of residential refrigerators, two failures due to the repetitive random vibrations were occurring. These included the fracturing tubes between the compressor and condenser and the tearing compressor rubber mounts. Sample inspections, accelerated life tests and corrective action plans were used to identify the key control parameters for the connecting tubes. The failure modes and mechanisms found experimentally were identical to those of the failed samples in the field. The missing controllable parameters of the refrigerator system in the design phase included the shape of the compressor rubber and the connecting tube design. To correct these problems, the compressor rubber mounts and connecting tubes were redesigned. The refrigerators with the targeted B1 life were expected to survive without failure during rail transport.