Cost analysis of a two-unit cold standby system with two types of operation and repair

This paper deals with the cost analysis of a single-server two-identical unit cold standby system and two types of repair—minor and major. The unit requires minor repair if it fails for the first time. The major repair is required only when the unit fails after the minor repair. Upon minor repair the unit does not work as a normal unit but as a quasi-normal unit which has a different (increased) failure rate from that of a new one. Upon major repair the unit works as good as new (normal unit). Failure time distributions are negative exponential whereas repair time distributions are general. Using regeneration point technique the system characteristics of interest to system designers and operations managers have been obtained.     

Analysis of a two unit standby system with partial failure and two types of repairs

A two dissimiliar unit standby system is analysed. The priority unit can either be in normal or partial operative mode. When the unit fails from the partial mode, it undergoes minor repair and the unit becomes operative with different failure rate. If this unit fails again, it goes to major repair after which it works as good as new. The standby unit while in use is either operative or failed. This non priority unit fails without passing through the partial failure mode and undergoes only one type of repair with different repair time distribution. Failure and repair time distributions are negative exponential and general respectively. Regenerative technique in MRP is applied to obtain several reliability characteristics of interest to system designers.     

Availability analysis of a two-unit cold standby system with two switching failure modes

We consider a 2-unit cold standby redundant system with two switching devices—transfer switch and connect switch. The system is analysed under the assumption that each unit works in three different modes—normal, partial failure and total failure. Failure time distributions of units and connect switch are exponential, whereas repair time distributions are general. At any instant after use the transfer switch fails with probability q = 1?p. Several reliability characteristics of interest to system designers as well as operations managers have been evaluated. A few particular cases are discussed.     

Cost analysis of a two unit priority standby system with imperfect switch and arbitrary distributions

This paper deals with cost analysis of a single server two-unit (one priority and the other ordinary) cold standby system with two modes—normal and total failure. A switch is used to operate the standby unit (ordinary) and it works successfully with known probability p( = 1 ? q). Priority unit gets preference both for operation and repair. Failure and repair time distributions are arbitrary. System fails when switch or both the units fail totally. The system is observed at suitable regenerative epochs in order to obtain reliability characteristics of interest to system designers and operations managers. Explicit results for the exponential time distributions have been obtained in particular cases.     

Analysis of a two-unit standby system with three modes and imperfect switching device

In this paper we study the effect of imperfect switching on a two-unit cold standby system in which each unit works in three different modes—normal, partial failure and total failure. Failure time distributions of units are negative exponential whereas repair time distributions of units and switch are general. The switch is available at the time of need with probability p(= 1?q). Using the regeneration point technique reliability characteristics of interest to system designers as well as operation managers have been evaluated.     

Cost-benefit analysis of a system with inspection, replacement and two types of repair

This paper investigates a mathematical model of a system composed of two units—one operative and the other in cold standby. There is a single repair facility which serves the triple role of inspection, repair and replacement of a failed unit. After inspection, the unit goes to minor (major) repair with probability p(q = 1 − p). Whenever the failed unit goes to major repair, an order is immediately placed for a new unit to replace the unit under major repair. Failure, inspection and delivery time distributions are negative exponential, whereas repair time distribution is arbitrary. The system is analysed in detail using the regenerative point technique and several reliability characteristics of interest to system designers and operation managers are obtained. Earlier results are verified in particular cases.     

On the characteristics of a system having master and helping unit

A system having one master and one helping unit with two failure modes-partial and total-is analysed. The helping unit is used to support the master unit in operation. Whenever the helping unit fails it is either repaired or replaced with probability p(q). Failure time distributions are taken to be negative exponential whereas repair time distributions are taken to be arbitrary. Using the regeneration point technique, several system characteristics such as mean time to system failure, availability, busy period of the repairman, etc. are obtained. Finally, some graphs are drawn in order to highlight the important results in particular cases.     

Probabilistic analysis of a two-unit cold standby system with instructions at need

A two-unit cold standby system with an expert repairman and his assistant is examined. If the expert repairman is busy in repairing a failed unit and at that time the second unit fails, the assistant repairman repairs the latter unit. The assistant repairman needs or does not need instructions for doing repair with probability p and q, respectively. Using a regenerative point technique, various measures of system effectiveness are obtained.     

Switch failure in a two-unit standby system with better utilization of units

This paper analyses a two-unit cold standby system with three modes and a switching device to put the offline unit into operation. The cold standby starts operating only after it becomes active. When turned on, the transfer switch (TS) operates successfully with fixed probability p(≡1 ? q). A single service facility is available to (i) repair a partially or totally failed unit, (ii) repair the failed TS and (iii) activate the cold standby unit. The failure rates are constant, the activation and the repair rates are general.     

Cost-benefit analysis of a one-server two-unit standby system subject to imperfect switching device,random inspection and k-failure modes

This paper deals with cost-analysis of a single-server two-unit cold standby system subject to random inspection and k-failure modes. A switch is used to operate the standby unit which works successfully with known probability p(=1 −q). The service facility plays the dual role of inspection and repair of both failed unit and failed switch. Identifying the system at suitable regenerative epochs, the integral equations are set up for the probabilities of system being in the “up” or “down” state. Laplace transform technique is adopted to solve these equations and various reliability characteristics of interest to system designers and operations managers have been obtained.     

An age replacement policy with minimal repair and general random repair cost

An age replacement policy is introduced which incorporates minimal repair, replacement, and general random repair costs. If an operating unit fails at age y<T, it is either replaced by a new unit with probability p(y) at a cost c₀, or it undergoes minimal repair with probability q(y) = 1−p(y). Otherwise, a unit is replaced when it fails for the first time after age T. The cost of the i-th minimal repair of an unit at age y depends on the random part C(y) and the deterministic part c_i(y). The aim of the paper is to find the optimal T which minimizes the long run expected cost per unit time of the policy. Various special cases are considered.     

Stochastic behaviour of a two-unit cold standby redundant system with administrative delay and two types of repairs

In this paper we consider a two-unit cold standby redundant system in which each unit works in three modes—normal, partial failure and total failure with two types of repairs (major and minor) after partial failure mode, with administrative delay to locate expert repair man for major repair. The administrative time distribution is assumed to be exponential, whereas the repair and failure time distributions are exponential and arbitrary. The technique of regenerative processes is applied to obtain various reliability characteristics of interest to system designers.     

Cost analysis of a two-unit standby system with delayed replacement and better utilization of units

This paper develops the model for a system, having two identical units—one operative and the other cold standby. Each unit of the system has three modes—normal, partial failure and total failure. The replacement time of a failed unit by a standby unit is not negligible but is a random variable. System fails when both the units fail totally. Failure time distributions of units are exponential, whereas repair time distributions are arbitrary. Several reliability characteristics of interest to system designers and operations managers have been evaluated using the theory of regeneration point technique.     

Probabilistic analysis of a two-unit cold standby system with two-phase repair and preventive maintenance

This paper deals with cost-analysis of a single-server two-unit cold standby system subject to random inspection and k-failure modes. A switch is used to operate the standby unit which works successfully with known probability p(=1 −q). The service facility plays the dual role of inspection and repair of both failed unit and failed switch. Identifying the system at suitable regenerative epochs, the integral equations are set up for the probabilities of system being in the “up” or “down” state. Laplace transform technique is adopted to solve these equations and various reliability characteristics of interest to system designers and operations managers have been obtained.     

Analysis of a two-unit cold standby system with three modes

This paper analyses a two-unit cold standby system under the assumption that each unit works in three different modes—normal, partial failure and total failure. Failure time distributions of units are exponential, whereas repair time distributions are arbitrary. Breakdown of the system occurs when both the units are in total failure mode. Several reliability characteristics of interest to system designers as well as operations managers have been evaluated.     

Stochastic analysis of a two unit cold standby system with preparation time for repair

This paper deals with the cost-benefit analysis of a two unit cold standby system in which the cold standby unit replaces the failed operative unit after a random amount of time. Inspection is required to decide whether it needs type I or type II repair. Failure, repair, replacement and inspection time distributions are arbitrarily distributed. A repair man is not always available with the system, but is called for repair whenever the operative unit fails.     

Stochastic behaviour of a two-unit redundant system with switchover time

There is a two-unit standby redundant system. Standby is kept in cold state. Whenever one unit is operating and the other is in the waiting standby state, switching is initiated on the latter after a random time. If the operative unit fails before the time to initiate switching action on the waiting standby unit, the system fails and the failed unit immediately undergoes repair type 2 along with the switching. However, if the operative unit fails when the other unit is as standby (after switchover), the failed unit undergoes repair type 1 and the unit as standby takes over the operation. All the distributions are arbitrary except failure-time, which is exponential.The system is defined with the help of states which generate a pseudo semi-Markov process. Abundant use of results from the theory of SMP has been made to obtain a large number of parameters which measure reliability characteristics of the system viz. MTSF, steady-state availability, expected number of visits to a state, conditional transition probabilities, first passage time distributions, expected profit rate, etc. Numerical examples are included to illustrate the results.     

Reliability analysis and optimization applications of a two-unit standby redundant system with spare units

Consider a two-unit standby redundant system with two main units, one repair facility, and n spare units. When the main unit has failed and the other is under repair, a spare unit takes over the operation and if it fails, it is replaced by a new one until the repair of the failed unit is completed. The system fails when the last spare unit fails while one main unit is under repair and the other has failed. In this paper, we derive expressions for 1) the distribution function of the first time to system failure, 2) the probability that the total number of failed spare units during the time interval (0,t] is n and 3) the mean of the total number of failed spare units in (0,t] and its asymptotic behaviour. Introducing costs incurred for each failed main unit and each failed spare unit, the expected cost per unit of time of the system was also derived. Finally an optinmization problem is discussed in order to compare the expected cost of the system with both main units and spare units with that of spare units only, and particular cases are considered.     

Operational behaviour of a three state standby redundant electronic equipment under critical human errors

This paper deals with the operational behaviour of a cold-standby redundant system incorporating the concept of three states, with four types of failures, namely major unit failure, minor unit failure, partial failure due to critical human errors and complete failure due to critical human errors, under only one repair facility. Failure and repair times for the complex system follow exponential and general distributions, respectively. Repair is undertaken only when the system is either in degraded state or in failed state. Laplace transforms of the probabilities of being in various states as well as in up and down states are computed, along with the steady state behaviour of the system. A particular case of such a system has also been appended to highlight the important results.