Information Management for Failure Analysis of Fluid Power Systems

As fluid power systems improve their performance, the demand for their safety and reliability increases and so the failure analysis plays an important role. In the product lifecycle, the failure analysis is performed before and after the launch of the product. The former is a kind of conventional risk analysis to prevent system failure in the design process, while the latter identifies the cause of a customer’s complaint; why the product cannot work as the customer expects. This paper considers an information management for the latter, which is divided into two processes: one is to answer the customer’s complaint, and the other is to improve the product quality. Based on its objective, a different kind of information flow must be organized. Since fluid power systems work in various operating conditions, the clear specification of environmental factors is essential. An illustrative example shows a simplified treatment process of a customer’s complaint.