Component Characteristics

Component Characteristics

This section records the reliability and safety ratings of the parts inside your product. How long a component lasts, how often it fails, and, for safety parts, what protection level it is certified to.

Two different AAS submodels sit behind this one screen. You do not have to know which is which. You describe a component in plain terms, and the app files it under the right one:

• Reliability (IDTA 02013), for lifetime and failure figures of ordinary parts.
• Functional Safety (IDTA 02014), for parts that perform a protective job and carry a safety rating.

The whole section is optional. Fill it in only when your datasheets actually give these numbers, and when a customer needs them. Whatever you enter is inherited by every unit of this product.

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Before you start

Have the datasheet for the component in front of you. Every field here is a number the manufacturer states. This section records those numbers, it does not calculate them. If a value is not on the datasheet, leave it blank.

You are describing a component of your product, not the product as a whole. A machine might have several: a motor, a safety relay, an e-stop button. Each is a separate entry.

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Where to find it

Open the product and look at the tiles on its overview. Component characteristics appears once the product has one. On a new product you add it first:

1. Click the Add information tile.
2. Tick Component characteristics.
3. Confirm.

Click the tile to open the section, headed Reliability & Safety Components.

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The section

If there is nothing yet you see a short empty message. Add Component opens a two step wizard.

Each entry you save appears as a row showing:

• The component's name
• Whether it is Reliability or Functional Safety, followed by its key numbers
• A small chip with the kind code (General, SUBST, ELECMECEL, ELECTROEL or INTSUBST)
• Buttons to edit and delete

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Step 1: what are you describing?

The wizard first asks you to pick the kind of component. Pick the one that matches the wording on your datasheet. Each card has an info icon; hover it to see what data you will need, examples, and the standard's own definition, so you can match it against your datasheet.

The five kinds, commonest first:

You pick	When	Filed as
General product or non-safety electronics	The datasheet gives lifetime or failure figures, but the part is not doing a protective job.	Reliability
A certified safety product	A safety device the vendor has already certified. It arrives with its own SIL or PL rating and a dangerous failure rate.	Functional Safety, SUBST
A wearing mechanical part	It has contacts or moving parts that wear out, so it is rated in switching cycles, not hours.	Functional Safety, ELECMECEL
An uncertified electronic component	A component level part not yet assessed against a safety standard. You get raw failure data and design it into a subsystem yourself.	Functional Safety, ELECTROEL
An inherently safe subsystem	A subsystem that by design has no dangerous failure mode. The rarest of the five; check with your vendor before choosing it.	Functional Safety, INTSUBST

Examples of each: a motor, drive or control board is General. A safety relay, light curtain or safety door switch is a certified safety product (SUBST). A contactor, e-stop button or holding brake is a wearing mechanical part (ELECMECEL). A safety microcontroller or redundant logic IC is an uncertified electronic component (ELECTROEL).

Click Next to move to the fields.

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Step 2, option A: General (Reliability)

Use this for an ordinary part with lifetime figures. Every field here is optional, so enter what the datasheet gives and leave the rest blank.

Operating conditions

These say the conditions under which the numbers below hold.

Field	What to enter	Example
Voltage Type	AC, DC or Others.	DC
Rated V	The rated voltage.	24
Min V / Max V	The voltage range it tolerates.	20 / 28
Rated current (mA)	The rated operational current, in milliamps. Datasheets often list amps, so convert: 0.5 A is 500 mA.	500
Other Conditions	Anything else that affects the figures, as free text.	-20°C..+85°C, duty 50%

Useful life

Field	What to enter
Useful Life (operations)	Expected life expressed as a number of operations.
Useful Life (years)	Expected life expressed in years.

Reliability values

A device usually fills in only one of these three. The one you use depends on how the manufacturer rates the part.

Field	What it means	Use it for	Example
MTTF (years)	Mean time to failure.	Parts that are not repaired, you replace them.	50
MTBF (years)	Mean time between failures.	Parts that are repaired and put back in service.	60
B10 (cycles)	The number of cycles until 10 percent of parts fail.	Parts rated by switching cycles rather than time.	2,000,000

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Step 2, option B: Functional Safety

The four safety kinds share a common top, then each adds its own block of ratings.

Designation of Element (required)

A short name that identifies this safety part. This is the only required field for every safety kind. For example "Holding brake" or "Safety door switch".

Operating conditions

The conditions under which the ratings hold. Same voltage and current fields as the Reliability form, plus:

Field	What to enter
Interlocking Device Type	For interlocks, the type under ISO 14119: TYPE1 to TYPE4. Leave blank if it does not apply.
Useful Life (operations) and (years)	Expected life, as a number of operations or in years.

The type-specific ratings

A certified safety product (SUBST)

Field		What it means	Example
SIL	*	Safety Integrity Level, SIL1 to SIL3. Required.	SIL2
PFH (1/h)		Probability of a dangerous failure per hour. Entered in scientific form.	1e-8
Proof Test Interval (y)		Years between full tests.	1
PL		Performance Level, PLA to PLE.	PLD
Category		Safety category under ISO 13849: CATB, CAT1 to CAT4.	CAT3

A wearing mechanical part (ELECMECEL)

Field	What it means	Example
B10D (cycles)	Cycles until 10 percent fail dangerously. The key number for this kind.	2,000,000
Proof Test Interval (y)	Years between full tests.	1

An uncertified electronic component (ELECTROEL)

Field	What it means	Example
MTTFD (years)	Mean time to a dangerous failure.	100
RDF (%)	Ratio of dangerous failures, 0 to 100.	50
Proof Test Interval (y)	Years between full tests.	1

An inherently safe subsystem (INTSUBST)

Field		What it means	Example
SIL	*	Safety Integrity Level, SIL1 to SIL3. Required.	SIL3
Proof Test Interval (y)		Years between full tests.	1
PL		Performance Level, PLA to PLE.	PLE
Category		Safety category, CATB, CAT1 to CAT4.	CAT4

Saving

Save Component saves a new entry, Save Changes saves an edit. Back returns to the kind picker while adding. Cancel leaves without saving. The save button stays greyed out until the required fields are filled: the designation for every safety kind, plus SIL for SUBST and INTSUBST.

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A worked example

Take a made up machine builder documenting a safety door switch on their guard.

The switch datasheet says it is a certified safety component, SIL2, PFH 7 × 10⁻⁹ per hour, category 3, rated 24 V DC, 100 mA, tested yearly.

1. Add Component, then on step 1 pick A certified safety product, then Next.
2. Designation of Element: Guard door safety switch.
3. Operating conditions: Voltage Type DC, Rated V 24, Rated current 100.
4. SUBST ratings: SIL SIL2, PFH 7e-9, Category CAT3, Proof Test Interval 1.
5. Save Component.

The row now reads Guard door safety switch, Functional Safety, SIL2, with a SUBST chip.

Later the same builder adds the machine's motor. That has no safety role, only a lifetime figure of 60,000 hours. On step 1 they pick General, enter the operating conditions and put the figure under useful life. It is filed as Reliability, a different submodel, from the same screen.

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Which number goes where

The wizard exists because the same idea has different names depending on the part. A quick guide:

• Ordinary lifetime, no safety role → MTTF (not repaired), MTBF (repaired) or B10 (cycle rated). This is the General kind.
• Certified safety rating you were given (SIL or PL) → certified safety product.
• Wear rated safety part (cycles) → wearing mechanical part, enter B10D.
• Raw component safety data (no certificate) → uncertified electronic component, enter MTTFD and RDF.

If you are unsure which kind fits, hover the info icon on each card in step 1. The wording there is the standard's own definition, meant to match your datasheet.

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Editing and deleting

The pencil icon reopens the entry. In edit mode the wizard skips straight to the fields, since the kind is already set. The bin icon deletes the entry.

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Removing the whole section

The × on the Component characteristics tile removes it from the overview. If the section is empty the tile just disappears. If it holds entries, the app asks you to confirm and then deletes them.

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Tips

• Copy from the datasheet, do not calculate. Every field is a stated value. If you are working something out, you probably have the wrong document.
• One component, one entry. Do not try to average a motor and a safety relay into a single figure.
• Get the kind right first. It decides which numbers you are asked for and which submodel the data lands in. The info icon on each card is there to help you match.
• Rated current is in milliamps. This is the easiest field to get wrong. 0.5 A is 500 mA.

For technical users

The General kind writes to the Reliability submodel (IDTA 02013). The four safety kinds write to the Functional Safety submodel (IDTA 02014), each as its device type: SafetySubsystem (SUBST), ElectromechanicalElement (ELECMECEL), ElectronicElement (ELECTROEL) and InherentlySafeSubsystem (INTSUBST).

Rated operational current is fixed to milliamps, matching the concept description's example in both specs. Changing the component kind clears the type-specific ratings so a SUBST's SIL and PFH cannot end up stored on an ELECMECEL row; the shared operating conditions and designation are kept.

Only the fields each device type defines in the spec are shown, which is why the type-specific block changes with the kind.