Joint reliability importance of k-out-of-n systems

Joint Reliability Importance (JRI) is investigated to provide information on the type and the degree of interactions between two components by identifying the sign and the size of it. In specific, JRI is analyzed for k-out-of-n systems with (i) independently identically distributed (IID) components, (ii) non-identical and independent components and (iii) pair-wise dependent components. The closed form solution of JRI is derived for IID components. By using the solution, the variations of JRI are investigated with respect to the level of redundancy (n/k). In non-identical and independent case, the point of sign change of JRI is obtained. It is also shown that the sign of JRI can be determined by the relationships between the Schur-convexity (concavity) and the JRI. For dependent case, only the pair-wise dependence is considered. As a result, the error caused by assuming statistical independence between pair-wise dependent components is shown to be measured by their covariance and JRI.     

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.     

基于边际效应分析的防空武器系统可靠性优化研究

针对复杂武器系统可靠性冗余分配优化问题,以系统的可靠度最大为目标函数,综合考虑系统的费用、质量等约束条件,建立了武器系统的可靠性冗余分配最优化模型;提出了基于相对增量的边际效应分析方法的求解算法,通过改进各级子系统的可靠性,从而使总的系统可靠性最大,最后对防空武器系统的可靠性冗余分配优化问题进行了实例分析。     

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。     

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.     

The reliability of k out of n systems when k components are equally reliable

The k out of n systems are compared in terms of system reliability when k components are equally reliable. The result enables us to compare the system reliabilities of various sets of k out of n systems under some conditions.     

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.     

Redundant consecutive-k systems

We introduce redundancy into the consecutive-k (-out-of-n) systems which have recently been widely studied. We study three problems: (i) compute the reliabilities for such systems, (ii) assign components with various working probabilities to a given system to maximize its reliability, (iii) select a system under hardware constraints to maximize the reliability.     

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。     

Reliability of a consecutive (r, s)-out-of-(m, n):F lattice system with conditions on the number of failed components in the system

A consecutive(r, s)-out-of-(m, n):F lattice system which is defined as a two-dimensional version of a consecutive k-out-of-n:F system is used as a reliability evaluation model for a sensor system, an X-ray diagnostic system, a pattern search system, etc. This system consists of m × n components arranged like an (m, n) matrix and fails iff the system has an (r, s) submatrix that contains all failed components. In this paper we deal a combined model of a k-out-of-mn:F and a consecutive (r, s)-out-of-(m, n):F lattice system. Namely, the system has one more condition of system down, that is the total number of failed components, in addition to that of a consecutive (r, s)-out-of-(m, n):F lattice system. We present a method to obtain reliability of the system. The proposed method obtains the reliability by using a combinatorial equation that does not depend on the system size. Some numerical examples are presented to show the relationship between component reliability and system reliability.     

一种面向可靠性的改进不确定性重要度分析方法

作为识别和评估系统薄弱环节的有效工具之一的重要度理论,一直都被广泛应用于系统可靠性和安全性工程。而作为其主要环节的不确定性重要度分析更是扮演着不可或缺的角色。因此,为有效表征多态系统的可靠性,本文给出了一种变换数据处理方式的改进不确定性重要度分析方法。该模型是以两个累积分布函数之间的空间几何距离为基础,通过改变随机输入变量的不确定性范围和对应分布情况,模拟和描述输入对系统输出变量的相对影响趋势,并以两个累积分布函数之间的定积分面积表示。最后利用系统故障树对其进行不确定性重要度分析。结果表明,空间几何距离是一种用来表示输入变化对输出分布变化的相对影响的不确定性重要度度量的有效工具。     

Recursive algorithm for the reliability of a connected-(1, 2)-or-(2, 1)-out-of-(m, n):F lattice system

The connected-(1, 2)-or-(2, 1)-out-of-(m, n):F lattice system is included by the connected-X-out-of-(m, n):F lattice system defined by Boehme et al. [Boehme, T.K., Kossow, A., Preuss, W., 1992. A generalization of consecutive-k-out-of-n:F system. IEEE Transactions on Reliability 41, 451–457]. This system fails if and only if at least one subset of connected failed components occurs which includes at least a (1, 2)-matrix (that is, a row and two columns) or a (2, 1)-matrix(that is, two rows and a column) of failed components. This system is applied to two-dimensional network problems with adjacent constraints, and various systems, for example, a supervision system, etc.     

Availability and maintenance of series systems subject to imperfect repair and correlated failure and repair

The series system is one of the most important and common systems in reliability theory and applications. This paper investigates availability, maintenance cost, and optimal maintenance policies of the series system with n constituting components under the general assumption that each component is subject to correlated failure and repair, imperfect repair, shut-off rule, and arbitrary distributions of times to failure and repair. Imperfect repair is modeled through the basic idea of the quasi renewal processes introduced by H. Wang, H. Pham, A quasi renewal process and its applications in imperfect maintenance, International Journal of Systems Science 27(10) (1996) 1055–1062; 28(12) (1997) 1329. System availability, mean time between system failures, mean time between system repairs, asymptotic fractional down time of the system, etc., are derived, and a numerical example is presented to compare with the existing models by R.E. Barlow, F. Proschan, Satistical Theory of Reliability of Life Testing, Holt, Renehart & Winston, NY, 1975. Then two classes of maintenance cost models are proposed and system maintenance cost rates are modeled. Finally, properties of system availability and maintenance cost rates are studied. Optimization models to optimize system availability and/or system maintenance costs are developed, and optimum system maintenance policies are discussed through a numerical example.     

Reliability equivalence factors of a system with mixture of n independent and non-identical lifetimes with delay time

Recently, [1], [2] generalized the reliability equivalence technique to a system with mixed of two non-identical lifetimes with delay time. The aim of this study is to generalize reliability equivalence technique to apply it to a system of mixture of n independent and non-identical lifetimes with delay time. We shall improve the system by using some reliability techniques: (i) reducing the failure for some lifetimes; (ii) add hot duplication components; (iii) add cold duplication components; and (iv) add cold duplication components with imperfect switches. We start by establishing two different types of reliability equivalence factors, the survival reliability equivalence (SRE) and mean reliability equivalence (MRE) factors. Also, we introduced some numerical results and conclusions.     

A deteriorating cold standby repairable system with priority in use

In this paper, a cold standby repairable system consisting of two dissimilar components and one repairman is studied. In this system, it is assumed that the working time distributions and the repair time distributions of the two components are both exponential and component 1 is given priority in use. After repair, component 2 is “as good as new” while component 1 follows a geometric process repair. Under these assumptions, using the geometric process and a supplementary variable technique, some important reliability indices such as the system availability, reliability, mean time to first failure (MTTFF), rate of occurrence of failure (ROCOF) and the idle probability of the repairman are derived. A numerical example for the system reliability R(t) is given. And it is considered that a repair-replacement policy based on the working age T of component 1 under which the system is replaced when the working age of component 1 reaches T. Our problem is to determine an optimal policy T^∗ such that the long-run average cost per unit time of the system is minimized. The explicit expression for the long-run average cost per unit time of the system is evaluated, and the corresponding optimal replacement policy T^∗ can be found analytically or numerically. Another numerical example for replacement model is also given.     

On signature-based expressions of system reliability

The concept of signature was introduced by Samaniego for systems whose components have i.i.d. lifetimes. This concept proved to be useful in the analysis of theoretical behaviors of systems. In particular, it provides an interesting signature-based representation of the system reliability in terms of reliabilities of k-out-of-n systems. In the non-i.i.d. case, we show that, at any time, this representation still holds true for every coherent system if and only if the component states are exchangeable. We also discuss conditions for obtaining an alternative representation of the system reliability in which the signature is replaced by its non-i.i.d. extension. Finally, we discuss conditions for the system reliability to have both representations.     

Reliability analysis in uncertain random system

Reliability analysis of a system based on probability theory has been widely studied and used. Nevertheless, it sometimes meets with one problem that the components of a system may have only few or even no samples, so that we cannot estimate their probability distributions via statistics. Then reliability analysis of a system based on uncertainty theory has been proposed. However, in a general system, some components of the system may have enough samples while some others may have no samples, so the reliability of the system cannot be analyzed simply based on probability theory or uncertainty theory. In order to deal with this type systems, this paper proposes a method of reliability analysis based on chance theory which is a generalization of both probability theory and uncertainty theory. In order to illustrate the method, some common systems are considered such as series system, parallel system, k-out-of-n system and bridge system.     

A study of repairable parts inventory system operating under performance-based contract

Performance-Based Logistics (PBL) is becoming a dominant logistics support strategy, especially in the defense industry. PBL contracts are designed to serve the customer’s key performance measures, while the traditional contracts for after-sales services, such as Fixed-price (FP) and Cost-plus (C+), only provide insurance or incentive. In this research, we develop an inventory model for a repairable parts system operating under a PBL contract. We model the closed-loop inventory system as an M/M/m queue in which component failures are Poisson distributed and the repair times at the service facility are exponential. Our model provides the supplier and the customer increased flexibility in achieving target availability. Analysis of key parameters suggests that to improve the availability of the system with repairable spare parts, the supplier should work to improve the components reliability and efficiency of repair facility, rather than the base stock level, which has minimal impact on system availability.     

基于Copula的部件相依并联系统可靠性分析

应用Copula函数,研究了部件相依的并联系统可靠性问题,给出了F-G-M Copula函数下并联系统的可靠度、平均寿命、失效率的表达式,讨论了部件下象限相关下并联系统的平均寿命与部件独立时系统的平均寿命的关系,通过算例分析了部件个数与部件相依关系对系统平均寿命的影响。     

考虑失效相关性的长寿命系统可靠性置信限综合评估模型

根据高长寿命产品的试验数据特征,采用退化轨迹拟合、两点分布和区间估计思想,分位数置信限-失效阈值干涉、可靠度预估响应模拟,分别给出了小样本和大样本试样下的零部件可靠性置信限评估方法。运用Copula理论拟合零部件失效间的动态相关性,从而对应性地建立了系统级可靠性置信限综合评估模型。该模型改善了独立性系统可靠性置信限评估方法预估结果过于保守的情形。算例验证了该类模型的可行性和有效性。