MMAE 589/590, Applications in Reliability Engineering


This is a two-semester graduate level course sequence that is taught every fall and spring semester.  It is also available to non-degree students who are primarily interested in professional development.  It is taught on the main IIT campus, but is also available through IITV and Distance Learning Technologies to numerous sites around the greater Chicago area and beyond.  This course was developed primarily for working engineers, to enhance their understanding of the technologies and procedures that will enhance the reliability of their products and processes.

Course Objectives
- Provide working engineers and other product professionals with practical knowledge of classical, innovative, and emerging technologies for improving reliability in products and processes.
- Utilize a combination of lecture, case studies, and project work to enhance the overall learning experience.
- Provide a real-life, problem solving, goal-oriented approach to developing reliability skills.

Course Format
- This is a one-year, two-semester sequence of courses building toward an overall working knowledge of methods and technologies for achieving reliability in products and processes.
- Classes consist of two 1.25-hour lectures per week in each of the two 16-week semesters, and a class project is required, preferably based upon the students' emplyment responsibilities.
- Most course materials are available over the internet.

Intended Audience
- This course sequence is intended for working, degreed engineers and technical professionals from a variety of educational backgrounds; prerequisites include a working knowledge of basic calculus and statistics, and familiarity with engineering terminology and concepts.
- Subject matter is applicable to design, validation, reliability, manufacturing, production, and quality professionals, and managers with responsibility for these functions.

Course Outline
          
MMAE 589 Applications in Reliability Engineering I (Fall Semesters)
1. Introduction: reliability as an integrated discipline
2. Setting Requirements: Quality Function Deployment, customer usage profiles, etc.
3. Probability and Statistics Review: probability density functions, distributions, hypothesis testing.
4. Fitting Models to Data: parametric, non-parametric and graphical methods
5. Reliability Modeling and Allocation: parallel, series, Markov models, etc.
6. Designing In Reliability: managing failure modes, failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), fault tree analysis (FTA), etc.
7. Mechanical Reliability: load strength interference, physics of failure, S-N diagrams, etc
8. Electronic Reliability: failure mechanisms, MIL-HDBK methods, analytical methods, derating.

MMAE 590 Applications in Reliability Engineering II (Spring Semesters)
1. Designing for Variation: statistical design of experiments (DOE), Taguchi approach, etc.
2. Mechanical Reliability, part 2: fatigue theory and mechanisms, corrosion and wear mechanisms and design.
3. Software Reliability: metrics, fault tolerances, testing methods, design for software reliability.
4. Reliability Testing and Results Interpretation: classical test planning, confidence limits, sudden death testing, sampling plans, reliability growth testing, accelerated testing.
5. Reliability in Manufacturing: statistical process control, process capability measures, design for manufacturing and assembly.
6. Maintainability and Availability: maintainability and availability models and predictions, design for maintainability, spares policies, optimizing maintenance procedures.
7. Reliability Management: business factors, model reliability management standards, corporate quality imperatives

For Further Information:
contact John Cesarone, cesarone@iit.edu, 312.567.5813.


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