All, MTBF is and has been a valid measurement in the electric/electronics manufacturing world for many years, used by all manufacturers. I have not looked, but I suspect all inverter manufacturers could give an equivalent number for their products.
It is not something new or whiz-bang. However it remains a purely theoretical method of quantifying a failure rate on a product that has few years of 'in-the-field' lifetime to back it up, and should not be confused with MTTR (mean time to replace), which also is a valid tool used for many years. Coming from a manufacturing field, I can verify that it is a time-consuming calculation with arms reaching into MIL-SPEC as well. -Glenn Burt -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Marv Dargatz Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2009 1:38 PM To: RE-wrenches Subject: [RE-wrenches] MTBF All, Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) is a statistical number that is based on failure rates of components in a piece of equipment, under specific operating conditions. Numerical analysis, with testing and historical data, results in this calculated number. MTBF can be applied to a number of real world mechanisms. For example, the MTBF of most solar modules is on the order of 600 years. The MTBF of an average American 30-something year old male is 900 years. Enphase will shortly be publishing a white paper that explains how MTBF ratings are determined and gives more details about the MTBF rating of our micro-inverter. If you would like, I'll post a notification on this list when the paper is available. See Ya! Marv Enphase Energy 707 763-4784 x7016 _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: [email protected] Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
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