Optimal Reliability Design of <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis>-out-of-<Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis> Systems Subject to Two Kinds of Failure

K-out-of-N systems formed from N identical and independent components are considered in which the components can take two states: 0 (open) or 1 (closed) on command (e.g. Electromagnetic Relays and Solid State Switches). The components are subject to two kinds of failure on command: failure to open and failure to close. A K-out-of-N system is closed if and only if at least K of its components are closed. The system is considered open or closed depending on the states of its components. The optimum system is taken to be that system which maximizes the reliability. This paper finds the optimum K-out-of-N system given a fixed number of components.