Life expectency of iQan product line ? MD4/MC3x for example

The IQAN-MC3 has a specified liftime of 10 years or 40 000 hours, whichever comes first. 

This is not to say that this is the technical life of the product, this is the limit that is necessary to set to know how long the PFHd values are applicable. Because this is a precondition for calculating the PFHd, it also means that the SIL2 certification that depends on it is not valid after this time expired. 

The information is found in the safety manual for the IQAN-MC3 (instruction book)

For the IQAN-MD4 modules, we have not given any statement about the lifetime.

Thanks for the information.

So we can expect to have the similar value for a MC31 (who is more specific to my end user) ?

About the MD4, there is any specification from the manufacturer of the backlight or the LCD ?

Thanks,

David

The difference between IQAN-MC3 and IQAN-MC31 is that the IQAN-MC3 is design for safety related machine controls, and thus needs to have calculation of the probability of dangerous failure. This calculation is only valid within the specified lifetime, after that time there will at some point be a higher probability of failure. 

So in practice, the modules (MC3 and MC31) will last longer than this, that is a reason not to specify it for MC31, while for the IQAN-MC3 application, the lifetime has to be specified and considered in the application, so that the module can be replaced or the machine decommissioned before random hardware failures become more frequent. 

For the MD4, there is a component that is more subject to aging than the others, the backlight. Its intensity will be dropping as it is aging, but it is not easy to give an accurate statement. 

The component specs says brightness >50% at 40.000 hours for MD4-5 backlights and >50% brightness at 70.000 hours for MD4-7 and MD4-10 backlight, but this data given for 25°C, and with 100% backlight the temperatures will be higher, say 40-45°C.