Work In Progress: Reliability Test Facility

At the Rochester Institute of Technology students take courses in automated data acquisition, electronics packaging, and failure analysis and reliability. There are also facilities to do reliability testing on printed circuit board assemblies under variable conditions. It is planned to incorporate the reliability test facility into a real-world problem solving experience for the students that combines aspects from the three course areas mentioned. Students are involved in the design of the testing procedures, working with the data acquisition package that allows the data to be acquired, and analysis of the data to determine reliability. This paper presents the test facility and processes used for the products being tested, the data acquisition hardware and software used, and plans to implement this into the undergraduate curriculum