Engineering Failures - Report Ideas - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: tec5c
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2014, 07:32:29 am
content: As part of my EE degree I need to write a short report on an engineering failure. I've had a look around the web but I couldn't really find too much for electronic failures. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for something that I could write about. The report is 4 pages max. so it doesn't need to be too extensive.

author: pickle9000
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2014, 07:42:05 am
content: rigol 832

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2014, 08:17:18 am
content: The iPhone 4(?) antenna issues? (Google "you're holding it wrong" and go from there)How about Toyota's recent enormous fine for having a *possible* firmware bug in an ECU?Dreamliner battery fires?

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 13, 2014, 08:28:16 am
content: 1. Capacitor plague. Huge amount of motherboards and monitors failed (not limited to):http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague2. Nvidia huge fail when their chips (produced over approx 1.5 years) massively died. Especially in notebooks and xbox 360:http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1004378/why-nvidia-chips-defective3. Recent Toyota ECU fail.4. Huge monitor failure rate of samsung 305T 30 inch monitors (most of them failed over 1-2 years). Also all other manufacturer monitors produced on the same LCD panel. Similar problem to Nvidia but with Altera FPGA.5. Multiple lithium battery recalls from many manufacturers.

author: johnwa
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2014, 08:33:06 am
content: Yes, it is a bit hard to think of interesting ones. I did this exercise once in a mixed discipline class - it was easy to think of things with a mechanical/civil engineering theme (titanic/hindenburg/comet/chernobyl etc), but not so much electronics. I ended up doing the 1998 Auckland power crisis, but even that is more power engineering really.If you don't mind a more software engineering/project management slant, there are plenty of cautionary tales - e.g. the Therac 25, or the Denver Airport baggage handling system. Or possibly you might be able to study something like a railway accident caused by a signalling system failure. (There is a site somewhere with an archive of reports into railway accidents, though its URL escapes me at present.)

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2014, 08:37:00 am
content: Sony capacitors in consumer electronic entertainment products.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2014, 09:19:26 am
content: ObamacareAs already mentioned, the Denver International baggage handling system, a classicThe German Berlin-Brandenburg Airport smoke exhaust system - will surpass Denver on the classic clusterf*ck scaleWindows VistaThe Ariane 5 explosionThe Space Shuttle Challenger explosionThe faulty Ford cruise control buttons, caused by some switch from Texas Instruments catching fireThe Apple graphic chips issueAll the issues of the various gaming consoles. Ring of death, etc.Edit: And of course, in western Europe the heap of shit known as the Vattenfall company. Every nuclear power plant they manage to get their hands on had at least one near miss.

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2014, 10:07:08 am
content: Although not purely electronic the mars climate orbiter faillure is a real classic.

author: Tris20
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2014, 11:01:14 am
content: How about the recent missing flight? Not so much failures but possible future technological improvements which could have prevented the current incident and future occurrences?Failing that I think the Iphone antenna is a good shout.

author: krish2487
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2014, 11:47:52 am
content: Well dont forget the Dreamliner fiasco!!!

author: HackedFridgeMagnet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2014, 12:54:41 pm
content: Not sure about the Toyota one, I heard they couldn't reproduce the fault, wasn't that more a legal failure.Vista, idk my wifes been running it for years, it's been ok.What about the Korad PSU failure. There is a lot of easily info on this forum. I think it is videos #314 and #404Or the Fluke gsm failure. Thats one more of Dave's vids.

author: jeremy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2014, 01:01:35 pm
content: BGA ball cracking due to thermal cycling aka red ring of death (xbox 360) aka yellow light of death (ps3).Intel Pentium FDIV bug.Windows ME

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 13, 2014, 01:14:46 pm
content: Quote from: jeremy on April 13, 2014, 01:01:35 pmYeah, ball cracking. Damn all those reballers. Whole business made around screwing the customers. Actual BGA ball cracking is a comparably rare condition. The real fault is in the microscopic balls between crystal and chip substrate. Heating just fixes that for some weeks-months until the problem appears again. But customer is already separated from his money by that time. Also full ebay of reheated faulty chips.

author: 128er
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2014, 01:33:53 pm
content: Loose connectors on Apple iMac 27 inch / LG displays due to thermal issues.http://gerrysweeney.com/apple-imac-27-dark-side-screen-failure-the-manufacturing-fault-apple-will-not-admit/

author: nuhamind2
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2014, 02:00:47 pm
content: failure in intel chipset that affect sata port,don't remember which chip.

author: Fank1
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2014, 08:55:37 pm
content: Add Windows 8, you will be ahead of the curve.

author: pallisi
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2014, 09:21:43 pm
content: Nikon D600, dust problems. Nikon admitted it after one and a half year.

author: jeremy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2014, 12:21:06 am
content: Quote from: wraper on April 13, 2014, 01:14:46 pmI'm interested, could you please elaborate? I was under the impression that it was usually due to fractures in the balls either going open circuit or causing impedance mismatch on high speed lines.Thanks!

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2014, 02:24:33 am
content: Quote from: jeremy on April 14, 2014, 12:21:06 amI have encountered two motherboards (out of the several dozen I have lying around) with cracked BGA connections due to the board flexing. The root cause in both cases was the CPU heatsink backplate not being rigid enough or missing altogether. I could actually get one board to work if I flex it just right. (They're both too old to be worth anything nowadays, but I might try reflowing one with a heat gun just to see if it works.) Another cause is a "smart" fan that works by cycling on and off, which is just right to thermal cycle the solder joints every few minutes.For another subject, you also might want to read up on the infamous WRT54G V5. In short, in one revision (pretty much all corner cutting), they turned what was one of the best routers in its day into one of the worst.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2014, 02:54:05 am
content: Look up the history of RoHS. There were TONS of problems with the RoHS process when it first rolled out (and are still traps today if you don't know about them). There is a reason there is a medical exemption and things implanted in your body can have lead but your cell phone can't.Tin WhiskersMelting plastic parts (not rated for the higher reflow temp)Delaminating PCBsBrittle solder joints cracking (like BGA balls)etc...Actually Tin Whiskers by itself would be a super easy topic to write 4 pages about.

author: N2IXK
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2014, 03:59:11 am
content: Therac-25 (Trusting software to implement safety-critical interlock functions without hardware backup)Genesis sample return probe (G-switches installed backward and not caught by multiple layers of QA)Apollo 1 fire (frayed wiring, in hazardous environment)Apollo 11 near-abort (improper checklist procedure leads to overloaded computer)Apollo 13 explosion (poor documentation, poor communication, lack of contractor accountability, improper procedures used all lead to improper component installed and latent hazard created)Apollo 14 near-abort (suspected loose debris in switch)

author: TheBorg
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2014, 04:02:25 am
content: Quote from: nuhamind2 on April 13, 2014, 02:00:47 pmMCP79. I have one and it's a pain in the butt to find a SSD for...iMac G5 capacitor failures.

author: GiskardReventlov
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2014, 04:43:06 am
content: I'd rank the ones where the most lives are at stake to be most worthy of writing about.There were some tragic medical xray equipment overdosages.The already mentioned dreamliner battery.There was an airliner that had serious elevator control problems that caused one to invert and crash into the sea with all souls on board lost. I think it was due to a binding worm gear issue.US train wrecks that could have been avoided if our train system wasn't antiquated and a joke of the world.(Japan's got a train that does 500Kph or so!)Bridge failures. Classic Tacoma Narrows (name??)The fly-by-wire, issue if I recall correctly, in the san fran. airliner crash.There was that strange cruise ship wreck in the mediterranean sea, possible steer-by-wire issue or navigation control issue or other "issue".There's always some stage or set of bleechers failing.

author: Skimask
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2014, 04:49:32 am
content: My own engineering failure...just happened not 5 minutes ago.Working on a PCB I designed. Got the board loaded with passives, no IC's or anything expensive yet. Decide probe power/ground rails, looking for the obvious dead short. Had one (of course). Spent a couple hours looking for the mistake. Couldn't find it.Decided to throw a couple amps at it and blow the short out. Sure as shit. An SMT electrolytic cap blew itself off and ended up.....somewhere....in the shop. I heard it hit the floor somewhere to my right, maybe 10ft away or so.Looked at the pads where the cap WAS mounted. Again, sure as shit, too much solder paste under that cap.I laughed.I cried.I soldered another cap in place and went about my business.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 14, 2014, 10:18:31 am
content: QuoteThis fault occurred mostly in Nvidia notebook chipsets and GPUs made in 2006-2008 (Not limited to Nvidia and notebooks though). Especially on models with weaker cooling. After multiple thermal cycles microscopic balls connecting crystal and substrate cracked. Iirc the reason is that thermal expansion of the materials was not matched well. There was a problem with underfill compound as well they skimped on some protection layer on the bottom of the chip die. Fault itself looks like this:

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 14, 2014, 10:33:28 am
content: Found that they lacked PI layer.Nvidia wiithout that layer:Some chip with it:

author: jeremy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2014, 11:03:04 am
content: Wow that's really interesting, I would have never guessed that. Thanks wraper! So it's still a thermal expansion mismatch, but the problem was clearly worse at the die rather than at the PCB.

author: Circlotron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2014, 11:30:07 am
content: HiSense TV sets.

author: Tris20
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2014, 01:19:17 pm
content: Can't believe I didn't think of this before, but the XBOX 360 Red Ring of Death.Basically caused by bad head dissipation which lead to the motherboard warping and some of the chips subsequently become detached. Some known fixes (albeit temporary) were to wrap a towel around the 360, force it to over heat to the point it turns itself off and then you've effectively reached a temperature that melts the solder and re-attaches the chips to the board!

author: scientist
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2014, 07:31:46 am
content: The Mars Beagle lander that converted miles directly into kilometers. It deployed the parachutes... minutes after impacting the ground.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 19, 2014, 08:23:23 am
content: Quote from: Tris20 on April 15, 2014, 01:19:17 pmDo you seriosly believe in what you have wrote? Melt the solder? 217oC?

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2014, 08:34:06 am
content: Quote from: wraper on April 19, 2014, 08:23:23 amFrom wiki, so your miles may vary on how true this is:QuoteBut there is no proof and that article referenced by wiki is gone as far as I can tell. (Edit: or maybe just hard to find and it was originally in German)

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 19, 2014, 08:38:27 am
content: The real problem is similar to Nvidia I wrote about. That fix is temporary. Just connection between substrate and die reestablishes for a short time.

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2014, 08:41:36 am
content: Quote from: wraper on April 19, 2014, 08:38:27 amLooks that way, but it was 1 in 3 failure rate and on older models using a kinect but who knows what is true or urban legend

author: GiskardReventlov
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2014, 04:02:04 pm
content: Quote from: wraper on April 19, 2014, 08:38:27 amThis sounds to me just like the PS3 problem. I was hoping Dave would tear down that PS3 and we'd find out.

author: TerminalJack505
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2014, 05:39:34 pm
content: The Mars Pathfinder priority inversion issue would be an interesting engineering failure to write about.It isn't one of the more well-known failures. This is most likely due to the fact that they were able to recover from the problem so it wasn't a complete and total failure. Still, a very teachable sort of failure.There are a several interesting engineering-related aspects of the Three Mile Island incident as well.I always thought the fact that the alarms couldn't be disabled was a huge engineering blunder. Nothing like having a siren blare while you are trying to figure out why a nuclear reactor is melting down.Or, that there wasn't CCTVs inside of the reactor building so that they could actuallyseewhat was going on--they only had their instruments and best-guesses to go by.Or, the fact that it was justonefailed part that caused the whole accident (a valve that failed to close.)Another interesting one is the Hubble space telescope mirror.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2014, 06:29:03 pm
content: News reports about our local nuclear power plant (Trojan, in Oregon*) indicated that the system was "scrammed" (emergency-shutdown) when a technician attempted to make a VOLTAGE measurement with a DMM, but had the leads in the CURRENT socket (shorting out the control system supply rail).* Reputedly, that nuclear plant was the inspiration for the setting of "The Simpsons".

author: scientist
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2014, 06:32:49 pm
content: Outside of electrical flaws, there's this:http://eastwickpress.com/news/2011/07/a-mishap-at-the-beacon-power-frequency-flywheel-plant/A giant carbon fiber flywheel exploded underground, blasting asbestos-like carbon fiber debris all over the town, while the plant operators claimed it was harmless carbon dust.

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2014, 11:55:35 pm
content: Quote from: nuhamind2 on April 13, 2014, 02:00:47 pmI forgot about that one.Even better would be their RAMBUS i820 chipset problems or the famous Pentium floating point division bug. More obscure would be the Pentium 4 clock wall.

author: Tris20
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 04:56:59 pm
content: Quote from: wraper on April 19, 2014, 08:23:23 amTo be fair, I did this about three or four years ago and didn't pay too much attention to the details at the time. I just remember it being something along those lines. Overheating the xbox had a positive effect for a while anywayQuote from: wraper on April 19, 2014, 08:23:23 amSee the large bold statement above.Apology accepted...

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 05:38:35 pm
content: Quote from: TerminalJack505 on April 19, 2014, 05:39:34 pmAnd from the Fukushima Daiichi reactors which got hit by the tsunami and earthquake.I watched an NHK documentary on YouTube and was struck by the same kind of oversightsas we saw at Three Mile Island (and doubtless at Chernobyl, as well).For example, at Fukushima Daiichi1) Gas-pressure-actuated relief valves which just assumed that the "ambient" pressure inside the containment vessel would "never" go higher than the actuation-gas pressure. Of course this was a big FAIL when the "ambient" pressure went far above the "expected" levels.2) While the primary emergency relief valves were properly rigged to withstand earthquake, the plumbing GOING TO the relief valves was installed like ordinary infrastructure with no higher priority of protection. The earthquake probably caused the plumbing to fail in one or more places, rendering the valves useless in the emergency.3) Locating the emergency generation gear (giant deisel generators) BELOW SEA LEVEL when they were that close to the ocean just seems like a dumb idea. At least from my armchair with hindsight.

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 05:41:18 pm
content: Quote from: TerminalJack505 on April 19, 2014, 05:39:34 pmIt is more of a regulatory issue than an engineering issue but I have seen discussions about this in connection with fire alarms. The loud sirens hinder communication and the strobes end up causing significant disorientation by themselves.A similar problem exists with the requirements for fire retardant materials. The same materials which help prevent a fire from starting or spreading are much more toxic when burned.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 20, 2014, 11:54:22 pm
content: Quote from: Tris20 on April 20, 2014, 04:56:59 pmApology for what? I just noted that you should thought that it is impossible to melt solder by chip heating itself. And then why it is not permanent. Chip would fry itself at least 100oC before solder even starts to melt. Albeit it cannot dissipate such amount of heat to even closely reach this temperature with heatsink attached on top of it. But even if it could, all balls would flatten out and become short because of pressure applied on top by heatsink. Connection reestablishes because of thermal expansion, not melting solder.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 21, 2014, 12:16:35 am
content: Sorry for harsh tone but it really pisses me off how much bullshit is written everywhere about this problem. DIY worthless repairs, endless reballs, etc.

author: Tris20
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2014, 02:12:02 am
content: Quote from: wraper on April 21, 2014, 12:16:35 amI agree. But that fix did work for a while for a lot of people.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 21, 2014, 06:25:25 am
content: Problem is that in very many cases when consoles/notebooks arrived to the real repairman after DIY repairs, kitchen oven or stupid reballers (they are not so stupid in many cases, just take your money), board was already fried or something else broken.