Statistics for Maintenance Modelling: Continuous Lifetime Distributions 1

# Using the Weibull Distribution to Test Electrical Relays¤

Fifteen electrical relays were tested to failure. The number of cycles ( 105) before failure occurred were:

2.1, 4.9, 6.1, 8.0, 8.5, 10.3, 10.6, 12.0, 14.5, 16.4, 16.5, 18.9, 22.6, 23.5 and 30.3.

A Weibull distribution with = 16 105 and = 1.7 is a good model for this data as can be seen from this plot of the actual data and the Weibull reliability function for the electrical relays.

This data is taken from O'Connor (1995) p. 79 where it was adjusted as the original data suggested that relays did not fail before 4.1 105 cycles.