The Reliability Engineering Glossary
Reliability engineering and related fields use a vocabulary unique to our field of endeavor. For example, the term ‘reliability’ has the meaning of ‘trustworthy’ in everyday English use. For us, ‘reliability’ has a precise engineering definition.
Glossary description and plans
This glossary is meant to help us learn the language of reliability engineering. The category of ‘Terms’ is like a dictionary, including terms and their definitions as used by engineers. The category of ‘Methods’ is a listing of the techniques, tools, approaches, or concepts that may be found within a reliability plan. In the near future, we expect to expand the ‘Methods’ pages to include guidelines on use or application, examples, and additional references.
We also plan to expand the glossary to include formulas and failure mechanisms. Please let us know if there is another list of terms that should be added if you do not find a term that should be included or if you would like to recommend a change to an existing entry.
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- Clear Viewing ApertureThe area of a window that is not covered by the window assembly frame or other structure that would block incident light rays. Read More
- Clearance numberThe required number of acceptable, successive item during 100% inspection in a continuous sampling inspection to trigger reducing the amount of inspection. Read More
- Cluster samplingA bundle or collection of items used as the primary sampling unit often selected based on proximity, such as a city block for interview subjects, or carton of metal tubes from a shipment of cartons. Read More
- CMOS technology (CMOS)An silicon electronics device (integrated circuit) using complementary metal-oxide semiconductor construction. Read More
- CognitivePertaining to the mental processes of perception, learning, memory, comprehension, judgment, and reasoning. Read More
- CollinearA condition that occurs when two variables are totally correlated. Read More
- Color DiscriminationThe ability to distinguish between pairs of colors that span the space of colors, under standard viewing conditions. The International Commission on Illumination (CIE) has defined ΔE units that specify the perceptual distance between colors. Read More
- Color temperatureThe blackbody temperature with the same visible color as a given non-blackbody radiator. Read More
- Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)Items available in a domestic or foreign commercial marketplace and usually ordered by part number. Read More
- The source of natural variation affecting all the individual item characteristic output values. In SPC it appears as part of the random process variation. Read More
- ComplaintConcerning customer satisfaction, a complaint is a customer’s expressed dissatisfaction made to an organization about a product or service often though a complain handling process that has an expected explicit or implicit response or resolution. Read More
- Completely randomized designA designed experiment that doesn’t limit or restrict the randomization of the assigned experimental treatments to the experimental units. Read More
- Completely randomized factorial designIn designed experiments, it is a factorial design (set of experiments including replicates) run in a completely randomized design. Read More
- Complex itemAn item whose functional failure can result from any one of numerous failure modes. Read More
- ComplianceVerification that a quality system meets the requirement of a standard. Read More
- ComponentWithin a product, system, subsystem, or equipment, a component is a constituent module, part, or item. Read More
- Component of varianceAn identified source of variability that is part of a total variance. Read More
- Composite designIn designed experiments it is a design created to fit second order response surfaces in order to evaluate curvature. The design is constructed by adding further specific treatments to those in a 2n factorial or its fraction. Read More
- Computer-Aided Design (CAD)A process which uses a computer system to assist in the creation, modification, verification, and display of a design. Read More
- Condition-based maintenance (CbM)A proactive maintenance technique that uses real-time data (collected through sensors) to identify when an asset’s performance or condition reaches an unsatisfactory level. Read More
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