Whether you are manufacturing heavy-duty vehicles, industrial automation machinery, farming equipment or other industrial applications, being able to predict the lifespan of the integrated actuators can be a tremendous help – both when developing a new application and when planning maintenance.
Predicting actuator lifetime with B10 data
B10 is a value used to estimate product lifetime. It provides a statistical life expectancy indication describing that minimum 90% of the products you have bought will meet or exceed lifetime expectations, when used in accordance with product specifications. Meanwhile, a maximum of 10% might fail.
To reach a true and realistic lifecycle prediction, a substantial amount of test cycle data is required, and working with our industrial actuators is no exception. Considerable test centre capacity and a great deal of patience are needed when you work with extremely durable actuators.
“People who know LINAK are familiar with our test centre facilities. They are some of the most extensive in the entire business,” says Soren Buck, Business Development Manager at LINAK®. “It is only natural that we are the first to offer our customers an online tool for lifetime estimation, and B10 was the right and most realistic value to use”.
Long-time testing setup
Soren Buck and his team began B10-testing of the popular LA36 actuator and established a test centre area where three groups of six actuators were set up in identical scenarios. The first group was tested at 100% load capacity, the second at 50% and the third at 25%. It quickly became clear that it would be a lengthy process.
“We ran all the actuators – in all three groups – to breaking point. When they were all ‘dead’, we used performance data and the number of cycles for each of the actuators to calculate the B10 lifetime curve,” he explains. “If you know the LA36, you know how durable it is. It takes quite a long time to wear it down. So yes, it took a while to complete the testing”.
B10 lifetime assessments have come to stay
The output of the testing, however, is very useful. The plan is to attach a B10-tab to each industrial actuator product page online. When activating the tab, customers will be able to enter their own application load specifications and stroke length and ultimately calculate the estimated B10 lifetime of the actuators involved.
There will of course be some variables to consider too. Things like humidity, changing temperatures or momentary vibrations are not included in the B10 calculation.
Soren Buck concludes “I am convinced that especially end users with actuators located in places that are hard to access will appreciate the B10 calculator. It will be a great help to know the service life of the equipment to prevent downtime of the whole application”.
Try out the lifetime calculator on the LA36 actuator and contact your local LINAK office to know more about the B10 lifetime calculation or LINAK actuator technology in general.
Curious to know more about B10 Life?
Do you want to know more about what B10 Life is and how we get the data for calculating the B10 values used for determining the B10 Life? Watch our Actuator Academy video below, where you also get the main benefits of knowing the B10 Life of you electric actuator.
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