Importance of system components and fault tree events

A new measure of the importance of the components in a coherent system and of the basic events in a fault tree is defined and its properties derived. The importance measure is a useful guide during the system development phase as to which components (or alternatively, which basic events) should receive more urgent attention in achieving system reliability growth. The new measure of component importance has certain desirable properties not possessed by the previous measure of component importance proposed by Birnbaum [6]. The measure is extended to minimal cut sets and to systems of components undergoing repair. A number of commonly occurring systems are treated in detail for illustrative purposes.     

A cost-based importance measure for system components: An extension of the Birnbaum importance

In reliability engineering, component importance measures are used to prioritise components in a system for purposes such as reliability improvement and maintenance planning. Existing importance measures have paid little attention to the costs incurred by maintaining a system and its components within a given time period. Cost-effectiveness analysis, however, is critically important in increasingly competitive markets. This paper proposes a new cost-based importance measure which considers costs incurred by maintaining a system and its components within a finite time horizon. Possible extensions are discussed and examples are given to show the use of the new measure.     

System reliability and component importance when components can be swapped upon failure

Resilience of systems to failures during functioning is of great practical importance. One of the strategies that might be considered to enhance reliability and resilience of a system is swapping components when a component fails, thus replacing it by another component from the system that is still functioning. This paper studies this scenario, particularly with the use of the survival signature to quantify system reliability, where it is assumed that such a swap of components requires these components to be of the same type. We examine the effect of swapping components on a reliability importance measure for the specific components, and we also consider the joint reliability importance of two components. Such swapping of components may be an attractive means toward more resilient systems and could be an alternative to adding more components to achieve redundancy of repair and replacement activities.     

Analysis for joint importance of components in a coherent system

JRI (Joint Reliability Importance) of two components is a measure of interaction of two components in a system for their contribution to the system reliability. It is defined as the rate at which the system reliability improves as the reliabilities of the two components improve. But, sometimes we may improve system reliability through improving reliabilities of three or more components. This article extends the concepts of JRI & JFI (Joint Failure Importance) of two components to multi-components, and establishes some relationships between JRI & JRI, JFI & JFI, and JFI & JRI. The paper also investigates the concept of Conditional Reliability Importance while the working states of certain components are known. Finally, the JRI of multi-components and Conditional Reliability Importance are analyzed in detail for a k-out-of-n:G system.     

New Results on the Barlow–Proschan and Natvig Measures of Component Importance in Nonrepairable and Repairable Systems

In this paper dynamic and stationary measures of importance of a component in a binary system are considered. To arrive at explicit results we assume the performance processes of the components to be independent and the system to be coherent. Especially, the Barlow–Proschan and the Natvig measures are treated in detail and a series of new results and approaches are given. For the case of components not undergoing repair it is shown that both measures are sensible. Reasonable measures of component importance for repairable systems represent a challenge. A basic idea here is also to take a so-called dual term into account. According to the extended Barlow–Proschan measure a component is important if there are high probabilities both that its failure is the cause of system failure and that its repair is the cause of system repair. Even with this extension results for the stationary Barlow–Proschan measure are not satisfactory. According to the extended Natvig measure a component is important if both by failing it strongly reduces the expected system uptime and by being repaired it strongly reduces the expected system downtime. With this extension the results for the stationary Natvig measure seem very sensible.     

Measures of Component Importance in Nonrepairable and Repairable Multistate Strongly Coherent Systems

In Natvig and Gåsemyr (Methodol Comput Appl Probab 11:603–620, 2009) dynamic and stationary measures of importance of a component in a binary system were considered. To arrive at explicit results the performance processes of the components were assumed to be independent and the system to be coherent. Especially the Barlow–Proschan and the Natvig measures were treated in detail and a series of new results and approaches were given. For the case of components not undergoing repair it was shown that both measures are sensible. Reasonable measures of component importance for repairable systems represent a challenge. A basic idea here is also to take a so-called dual term into account. For a binary coherent system, according to the extended Barlow–Proschan measure a component is important if there are high probabilities both that its failure is the cause of system failure and that its repair is the cause of system repair. Even with this extension results for the stationary Barlow–Proschan measure are not satisfactory. For a binary coherent system, according to the extended Natvig measure a component is important if both by failing it strongly reduces the expected system uptime and by being repaired it strongly reduces the expected system downtime. With this extension the results for the stationary Natvig measure seem very sensible. In the present paper most of these results are generalized to multistate strongly coherent systems. For such systems little has been published until now on measures of component importance even in the nonrepairable case.     

基于成本优先级的部件维修策略分析

现实中,系统由于任务、环境等因素,无法实时对故障部件进行维修。因此需要在任务间隔期间或对故障部件进行维修的同时对系统各部件进行预防性机会维修。本文考虑系统期望维修成本,提出了基于部件维修优先级的预防性维修策略。首先把系统期望维修成本分为失效部件维修成本、失效部件导致系统故障的成本和预防性维修其他部件的成本,提出了基于成本的二态和多态系统部件维修优先级度量方法,并在两种场景下分析了如何选择预防性维修部件。其次针对多态系统,研究了基于成本重要度的部件最佳维修水平,并讨论了成本约束下的部件预防性维修策略。最后以某型预警机系统为例进行验证,结果表明,基于成本的预防性维修策略不仅与故障部件位置和相关成本有关,而且还与可用于预防性维修的其他部件重要性有关。     

基于系统可靠性的组件综合重要度变化机理分析

重要度理论是一种重要的系统薄弱环节识别和评估方法,被广泛应用于系统可靠性设计优化、维修资源分配、维修决策以及风险分析等领域。本文以组件状态转移率为纽带,分析了组件综合重要度对系统可靠性的影响机理,识别对系统可靠性变化影响最大的组件,综合重要度评估了单位时间内系统可靠性的变化。首先给出综合重要度的定义;其次讨论系统可靠性的组件重要度表示方法;最后在串联和并联系统中,分析综合重要度随着组件状态转移率的变化机理。     

基于马尔科夫过程的储备系统稳态性能分析

由于储备系统组成部件在存储期间的失效概率各不相同,当部件状态趋于稳定时,各个状态对系统性能的影响也存在差异。为了识别关键部件及其状态对系统性能的影响程度,本文以重要度为主要指标,应用马尔科夫过程研究储备系统在稳态时的性能变化模式。首先基于综合重要度研究系统性能的变化规律,并结合冷储备系统和温储备系统的状态转移矩阵推导出马尔科夫过程中稳态值的计算方法;其次基于稳态综合重要度获得系统稳态时的性能变化模式;最后以双臂机器人为例,分析部件处于不同状态时对系统性能的影响模式,比较了不同部件综合重要度的变化,验证了提出方法的有效性。     

宏观因素影响下的系统中元件重要性研究

为研究复杂系统在工作环境中其组成元件对系统安全运行的重要性,将汪培庄先生的因素空间理论与笔者提出的空间事故树理论相结合,构造了一套元件重要性研究方法.构建系统T={U,C,D},将元件作为研究对象集合U,系统工作的宏观环境作为因素集C,元件重要性排序集作为D.对宏观环境中的工作时间a1和温度a_2进行划分形成不同的状态区域S_q,计算在S_q中元件xj的失效权重γ(AS_q(x_j))和在S_q中系统T的失效权重δ(AS_q(T))),从而得到x_j在S状态下的等效失效权重Z(AS_q(x_j)),研究状态S_q下的原件重要性排序D_η,及元件x_j失效性对a_1及a_2的敏感性.使用一个实际的电气系统维修情况统计资料,使用上述方法进行了研究,结果表明:不同工作环境下元件对系统的重要程度是不同的.元件对温度和使用时间是敏感的,并得到了在10³0°且5030°且50⁷5d环境下工作系统可靠性是最高的结论.在给定工作环境下,重要性大的元件多储备,重要性小的元件少储备,以满足系统维修需要,并指导实际工程.     

Some results on information properties of coherent systems

This paper considers information properties of coherent systems when component lifetimes are independent and identically distributed. Some results on the entropy of coherent systems in terms of ordering properties of component distributions are proposed. Moreover, various sufficient conditions are given under which the entropy order among systems as well as the corresponding dual systems hold. Specifically, it is proved that under some conditions, the entropy order among component lifetimes is preserved under coherent system formations. The findings are based on system signatures as a useful measure from comparison purposes. Furthermore, some results on the system's entropy are derived when lifetimes of components are dependent and identically distributed. Several illustrative examples are also given.     

基于综合重要度的动车组多部件系统机会维修策略研究

针对我国动车组列车现行维修方式,提出基于综合重要度序列的动车组多部件系统机会维修策略,对提高系统可靠度贡献大的关键部件进行准时优先维修。建立部件综合重要度指数计算模型,并依据其对部件维修优先级进行排序。以维修总成本最低为目标计算单部件最优维修周期及时刻,以系统维修总成本最低为目标,以关键部件的维修时刻为系统停机时刻建立考虑重要度的多部件系统机会维修模型。算例选取某型动车组四级修时更换的四部件系统为研究对象,讨论机会维修里程窗的大小及其偏移量对维修效果的影响,对比结果表明,考虑综合重要度的机会维修策略能够在维修费用基本持平的条件下,保证对系统可靠性贡献大的关键部件的可靠性,进而保证系统的整体可靠性。     

多态防护系统可靠性及重要度分析

在装备防护系统中,系统中的所有部件都可能会受到攻击,为了降低攻击成功的概率,部件的防护层有多个状态,从完全失效状态到完好状态,部件的防护功能依次增加。本文分析了部件防护层的状态变化规律,研究了当部件受到攻击存活和故障时的平均性能变化机理。然后基于系统结构函数,分别给出了防护层的Birnbaum重要度和综合重要度,分析了当部件防护层的状态发生变化时,系统性能的变化规律和特性;并考虑部件防护层的状态转移率,分析了在多种状态变化情况下的防护层提升对系统性能的影响。最后针对某直升机的航空动力装置系统,分析了不同部件防护层对系统性能的影响,并比较了Birnbaum重要度和综合重要度的不同,验证了提出方法的正确性和有效性。     

Gamma分布下混联系统综合重要度扩展及应用

综合重要度分析不仅可以有效的识别系统的薄弱环节,还可以合理分配资源,最大化整个系统的正常运行时间。本文主要对劣化系统的组(部)件进行综合重要度分析,假设组(部)件寿命服从Gamma分布,推导出并-串联和串-并联两种典型混联系统综合重要度的等价计算公式,同时给出物理意义。以波音737客机的液压能源混联系统为例,计算各组(部)件的综合重要度以及仿真案例分析,最后案例分析结果表明:在Gamma分布条件下的混联系统中,组(部)件的综合重要度与失效率和尺度参数成正相关,和形状参数成负相关关系。     

Scheduling of Products with Common and Product-Dependent Components Manufactured at a Single Facility

This paper analyses a scheduling problem concerned with the production of components at a single manufacturing facility where the manufactured components are subsequently assembled into a finite number of end products. Each product is composed of a common component and a product-dependent component, and completion time of a product is determined by the completion time of the last of two components. All the components are manufactured in a batch process at the single facility and, during the batch process, the manufactured components are individually moved to the next (assembly) station; switching from production of product-dependent components to common components only incurs a set-up cost. The solution properties are characterized subject to the mean flow time measure, based upon which an efficient branch-and-bound solution algorithm is exploited.     

Optimal inspection of a complex system subject to periodic and opportunistic inspections and preventive replacements

This paper proposes two optimization models for the periodic inspection of a system with “hard-type” and “soft-type” components. Given that the failures of hard-type components are self-announcing, the component is instantly repaired or replaced, but the failures of soft-type components can only be detected at inspections. A system can operate with a soft failure, but its performance may be reduced. Although a system may be periodically inspected, a hard failure creates an opportunity for additional inspection (opportunistic inspection) of all soft-type components. Two optimization models are discussed in the paper. In the first, soft-type components undergo both periodic and opportunistic inspections to detect possible failures. In the second, hard-type components undergo periodic inspections and are preventively replaced depending on their condition at inspection. Soft-type and hard-type components are either minimally repaired or replaced when they fail. Minimal repair or replacement depends on the state of a component at failure; this, in turn, depends on its age. The paper formulates objective functions for the two models and derives recursive equations for their required expected values. It develops a simulation algorithm to calculate these expected values for a complex model. Several examples are used to illustrate the models and the calculations. The data used in the examples are adapted from a real case study of a hospital’s maintenance data for a general infusion pump.     

The influence of the node criticality relation on some measures of component importance

For different reliability importance measures we prove that the criticality relation between nodes can completely determine the most important component in a system. In particular, we prove that in k-out-of-n systems, the ranking of component reliabilities determines the ranking of component importance for, at least, three different reliability importance measures.     

Reliability Importance and Invariant Optimal Allocation

The reliability importance of a component is a partial derivative of the system reliability with respect to this component reliability. When all components are i.i.d., the reliability importance is called the B-importance. Relationships between reliability allocation and the reliability importance for general coherent systems are explored. The invariant optimal allocation is an allocation related only to the relative ordering rather than the magnitude of the component reliabilities. A strong heuristic method (LK heuristic) is developed to search for an ideal allocation through the application of the reliability importance.The following conclusions are drawn: if there exists an invariant optimal allocation for a system, the optimal allocation is to assign component reliabilities according to the B-importance ordering. Furthermore, the allocation generated by the LK heuristic is the optimal allocation.     

多态系统部件维修成本评估分析

多态系统是可靠性理论中的一种重要系统,是指部件和系统具有多个状态。随着部件的劣化,系统的性能随之下降。为了提高系统的性能,部件需要进行一定的维修。本文考虑部件状态转移率与停留时间的关系,利用重要度理论来分析部件维修成本的变化规律,得出对系统维修成本影响最大的部件。首先,基于维修成本的函数关系,给出了重要度的表达式;其次,针对典型串联系统和并联系统,随着时间推移,给出维修成本的变化规律;最后算例仿真验证了提出方法的有效性和正确性。     

Evaluation of the warranty cost of a product with type III stochastic dependence between components

This paper analyses respectively the expected warranty costs from the perspectives of the manufacturer and the consumer. For a two-component series system with stochastic dependence between components, both the non-renewing free replacement policy and the renewing replacement policy are examined. It is assumed that whenever component 1 fails, a random damage to component 2 is occurred while a component 2 failure causes the system failure. Component 2 fails when its total accumulative damage exceeds a pre-determined level L. By considering the consumer’s behavior and the product service time, the warranty costs allocations between the manufacturer and the consumer are presented. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the applicability of the methodology. It is proved that, independent of the type of the warranty policy, the failure interaction between components impacts the manufacturer profits and the consumer costs. The initial warranty length has also an impact on the product quality preferences to both the consumer and the manufacturer.