What is Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT)?

HALT (or Highly Acclerated Life Testing) is a product reliability test that takes place during the design process in order to discover the weak links of a product prior to design completion. A stimulus is applied to a component as part of a fully functional product, or to the product as a whole to determine weak links or mismatches. Additionally, other types of stimuli are applied to determine points of failure, such as:

• accelerated temperature
• electrical cycling
• thermal shock
• vibration

The highly accelerated life test conditions are such that the product is expected to break, eventually. The “successful” HALT test is one in which the product fails as the designer expects under the expected conditions of the product design. By finding the failure points for each critical component a better product emerges.     Call today for your             FREE Consultation!                303.444.7480                                                               Back to                  Reliability Margins

What’s the difference between ALT, HALT, HASS Testing procedures?

The stresses applied during a HALT test are not meant to simulate those expected in the field but rather are to expose any weak components that should be upgraded to produce a more reliable end product.

The different varieties of accelerated stress testing are as follows:

• Accelerated Life Testing (ALT) is a “life test” designed to confirm product longevity and expected failure rate under simulated field conditions. This process allows long duration field performance to be measured in a relatively short period of time in the laboratory.
• Highly Accelerated Stress Screens (HASS) is used to screen individual components at a stress greater than their capacity or expected normal use, to simulate extreme cases of storage, shipping or use. This exposure will help pinpoint weak product components.
• Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT) is used prior to product manufacturing, in a product development phase, to determine which individual components can withstand the applied stresses (thermal or voltage) the best and that should be included in a product.

 Why use Percept for your HALT?

Percept has been providing quality and dependable reliability testing, including HALT, since 1996 to the Boulder, CO area as well as nationally.  Percept understands that if the wrong tool is used or the right tool is misused, product reliability data can be inaccurate ending in disastrous problems for the company. We strive to produce accurate data analysis so that you can be confident that when a finished product is manufactured, it will be reliable and reputable.

Check out our white paper on the Common Issues With HALT