Independent failure is a key concept in assembly design for manufacturing, allowing for single component failures without shutting down the entire system. It also allows for easier repair and safety protocols. Mechanical engineers make decisions on the extent of failure and its impact on the entire system.
An independent failure is a malfunction of one system component that does not affect any other system component. It is a key concept in assembly design for manufacturing. While it is not possible to build a system where the components are completely independent of each other, it can be beneficial to build some level of independence. This potentially ensures that a single failure does not shut down the entire production process, that component failures can be repaired without replacing the entire system, and that certain safety protocols are in place.
Production relies heavily on industrial machinery operating in an assembled or linked fashion. The assembly system is designed to streamline the manufacturing process, so every part of building a product smoothly follows the operational design. Every mechanical system has components that can fail at any moment. The extent to which the failure of a single component affects the ability of the entire machine to continue operating is a decision that can often be proactively made by mechanical engineers.
For example, a vacuum cleaner is a mechanical device that has an internal operating system. The machine designer decides whether the vacuum will turn on and continue to operate, even if the belt that turns one of the wide parts breaks. With many vacuum models, you won’t notice a broken belt except in how well the device is able to pick up materials as intended. The broken belt is designed to be an independent failure within the vacuum system which affects the quality of operation but does not cause any other component to fail.
In manufacturing, it is critical to establish dependent and independent faults within an assembly. At a basic level, the allocation determines whether the entire assembly will be shut down due to the failure of a single component. Closing down the entire assembly increases costs exponentially, as production has stopped while costs continue to pile up.
On another level, independent failure is an important concept that allows companies to replace a single broken part, rather than replace an entire system. An assembly that is too dependent on too many related components often needs to be replaced in its entirety. It’s a scenario similar to a consumer who takes a car to a garage to replace a broken side mirror and is told that the entire housing needs to be replaced, because there is no effective way to simply replace the broken mirror. The two sides are totally dependent.
Another significant factor in designing independent fault systems is safety. The design of mechanical systems must often take into account what could happen if the systems fail catastrophically. In some situations, independent failures might be an optimal design choice to prevent the system from ever shutting down, as is the case with nuclear reactors. Other situations might require the design of dependent failures to completely shut down a malfunctioning system in the event of component failure, so as not to injure workers.
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