Events · Free course · Online
Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMEA/FMECA)
Applied to electrical and electronic systems
Identify, assess and prioritize the failure modes of electrical and electronic equipment, with cases on photovoltaic inverters, V2G chargers and BESS batteries. Taught by Dr. Andrés Zúñiga Rodríguez, Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa.
- Dates
- November 16–23, 2026
- Time
- 3:00 to 6:00 pm (Ecuador time)
- Format
- Live online · Microsoft Teams
- Duration
- 20 hours
- Seats
- 25 participants
- Cost
- Free
About the course
Anticipating how equipment can fail, before it does.
Theory and practice of Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis applied to electrical and electronic systems: systematically identifying failure modes, assessing risk qualitatively and quantitatively, and prioritizing improvements in design and maintenance.
Half of each session is theory and half is exercises solved step by step by the instructor, with FMEA, FMECA and FMEDA spreadsheet templates aligned with IEC 60812:2018 and MIL-STD-1629A. Participants keep the templates and the solved exercises.
By the end, you will be able to produce a complete FMECA of real equipment, compute its criticality, build the criticality matrix and propose technically justified improvements.
Who is it for?
- Students
- In electrical, electronic, control or energy engineering who want practical FMEA/FMECA tools in their training.
- Professionals
- Technicians or recent graduates who design, build, operate or maintain electrical and electronic equipment and need to identify critical failure modes and prioritize improvements.
- Lecturers
- Teachers in electrical, electronic or related engineering who want to bring FMEA/FMECA, criticality analysis and FMEDA into their courses or research projects.
No prior reliability (RAM) engineering experience is required. Basic knowledge of electric circuits, electronics and probability is recommended.
What you will learn
- Build the functional and structural analysis of a system: block diagram and hierarchy levels.
- Identify failure modes, causes and mechanisms of electrical and electronic components using failure mode distribution databases.
- Assess the local, next-higher and end effects of each failure mode and assign its severity.
- Apply Severity, Occurrence and Detection scales, and compare prioritization by RPN and by Action Priority (AP).
- Compute quantitative criticality per MIL-STD-1629A and build the criticality matrix.
- Propose mitigation actions (derating, redundancy, protection, diagnostics) and verify the risk reduction.
- Carry out a simplified FMEDA to obtain diagnostic coverage (DC) and safe failure fraction (SFF) per IEC 61508.
Program
5 live sessions · 3:00 to 6:00 pm (Ecuador time)
Mon16Nov
Session 1
FMEA/FMECA fundamentals and functional analysis
Case studyGrid-connected photovoltaic inverter
Session topics
- Functional design versus reliability design: anticipating how equipment can fail.
- Function, failure, mode, cause, mechanism and effect. Design, process and functional FMEA; FMECA and FMEDA.
- Standards: IEC 60812:2018, MIL-STD-1629A, SAE J1739 and the AIAG-VDA 7-step method.
- Block diagrams, function trees, hierarchy levels and analysis boundaries.
Tue17Nov
Session 2
Failure modes, effects and severity
Case studyBidirectional V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) charger
Session topics
- Open circuit, short circuit, parameter drift and intermittent failure.
- Capacitors, power semiconductors (IGBT, MOSFET, diodes), relays, contactors, connectors, transformers and cables.
- Thermal cycling, ESD, overvoltage, electromigration, humidity and corrosion. Failure mode distribution (FMD-2016).
- Effect propagation and MIL-STD-1629A severity categories.
Wed18Nov
Session 3
Qualitative risk assessment: RPN and Action Priority
Case studyV2G charger: RPN versus AP
Session topics
- Prevention and detection controls; hidden and evident failures.
- Occurrence and Detection scales: building and calibrating them.
- RPN = S × O × D and its limitations; High, Medium and Low Action Priority (AIAG-VDA).
- Qualitative criticality matrix and common analysis mistakes.
Thu19Nov
Session 4
Quantitative criticality analysis and improvement actions
Case studyDC/DC converter of a battery energy storage system (BESS)
Session topics
- Failure rates: MIL-HDBK-217F, Telcordia SR-332, IEC 61709, FIDES and IEEE Std 493.
- Stress factors and derating.
- Mode criticality (Cm = β·α·λp·t) and item criticality (Cr = ΣCm); quantitative criticality matrix.
- Design elimination, redundancy, protection, diagnostics and risk reassessment.
Mon23Nov
Session 5
FMEDA, FMECA applications and final project
Case studyOver-temperature shutdown of a BESS
Session topics
- Safe and dangerous failures, detected and undetected.
- Diagnostic coverage and safe failure fraction per IEC 61508; reference to ISO 26262.
- Links with FTA and Reliability-Centered Maintenance (SAE JA1011).
- Using the results in maintenance plans, spare parts and asset management (ISO 55000).
Final project · 5 hours of independent work
FMECA of a bidirectional converter for a V2G charging station with BESS backup
A system of 10 to 15 components (power, control, sensing, protection and cooling) to see how failure effects propagate between subsystems. The data sheet, scales, templates and rubric are provided.
What you will submit
- Functional and structural analysis of the system, with its hierarchy levels.
- Complete FMEA worksheet: functions, modes, causes, effects, controls and S, O and D ratings.
- Prioritization by RPN and by AP, and a comparison of both.
- Quantitative criticality (Cm and Cr) and criticality matrix.
- At least three improvement actions for the most critical modes, with the risk reassessment.
- A 2–3 page technical report and the FMECA spreadsheet.
Instructor
Dr. Andrés Zúñiga Rodríguez
Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa
PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon (2025), and Electrical Engineer from ESPOL. At ISEL he teaches Robotics, Automation and Instrumentation, and since 2017 he has collaborated with the Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica (IDMEC, LAETA).
From 2015 to 2022 he taught in the Master's in Reliability and Maintenance Engineering of the Fundación Canaria Universitaria de Las Palmas, covering Physical Asset Management and Risk Analysis (HAZOP), and supervised 19 master's theses.
His research covers the reliability, availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS) of electrical, automation and robotic systems: risk analysis, fault diagnosis and condition-based maintenance.
Standards and working references
- IEC 60812:2018
- Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA and FMECA)
- MIL-STD-1629A
- FMECA procedure and criticality calculation
- AIAG-VDA 2019
- FMEA handbook and Action Priority
- SAE J1739
- Design and process FMEA
- MIL-HDBK-217F · IEC 61709
- Failure rate prediction
- IEC 61508
- Functional safety and FMEDA
- SAE JA1011
- Reliability-Centered Maintenance
- ISO 55000
- Asset management
Seats: 25 participants
Save your seat in the course
Free · November 16–23, 2026 · 3:00 to 6:00 pm (Ecuador time)