Acceptance Sampling Plan under Step Stress Accelerated Life Test for One-Shot Devices

Abstract

Acceptance sampling plans are essential in many manufacturing industries, serving as a statistical method to decide whether to accept or reject a batch of products based on the quality of a sample. The demand for reliable assessment methodologies has grown increasingly important as devices become more reliable under normal operating conditions. This trend poses challenges for reliability assessments, especially when there is limited failure data from tests. To address this, accelerated life testing (ALT) is widely employed to induce rapid failures for reliability analysis. This paper presents a comprehensive study of acceptance sampling plans under step-stress ALT (SSALT) for one-shot devices. We propose a tailored acceptance sampling plan that incorporates SSALT principles to enhance decision-making regarding product acceptance. Our methodology enables the determination of acceptable quality thresholds while evaluating the associated producer's and consumer's risks. Moreover, it can determine the minimum sample size required to ensure that both risks are adequately addressed, as well as to identify the optimal percentage of test items to examine at various testing stages. Two illustrative examples are provided to demonstrate the developed optimal acceptance sampling plans. This research highlights the significant impact of the choice of reliability index and stress pattern on inspection allocation.