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.     

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.     

Cost-benefit analysis of single server n-unit imperfect switch system with delayed repair

This paper deals with the cost-benefit analysis of a single-server n-unit system with an imperfect switch where failures of the items (units or the switch) are not detected unless either inspected by the server or when the system is down. Initially, one unit is put into operation (the switch is working at t = 0) and n − 1 units are kept as cold standbys. A failed unit is replaced by a standby if the switch and a standby are available. The server visits the system at random to check for the failed item and the check is instantaneous. When the system is down, either because of want of the standby or failure of the switch, the server is called for, and is assumed to arrive instantaneously. The revenue as well as the cost of repair are arbitrary functions of time. The expected net gain in (0, t) is evaluated assuming that all the life-time distributions are exponential and all the repair time distributions are arbitrary.     

CHE failure in a two-unit standby system with slow switch, repair and post repair

A mathematical model of a two-unit cold standby system with critical human errors (CHE) and slow switch is investigated. The CHE leads to complete system failure, and repair and post-repair are needed before the system can be put back into operation. Slow switch means that on failure of the operative unit the switch puts the standby unit into operation after a random time. Failure time and switchover time distributions are negative exponential whereas all the repair and post repair time distributions are general. Using a regenerative point technique, we obtain various reliability characteristics which can be used to carry out the cost-benefit analysis. In a particular case, the behaviour of the cost function is also studied graphically.     

A computer algorithm for the analysis of maintained standby redundant systems

A computer algorithm is developed to analyse standby redundant systems with repair maintenance. The method is applicable to a generalized class of standby systems. Failure-time distributions of units need to be exponential whereas repair-times can follow general distributions. A large number of input parameters which may be of interest to system designers have been incorporated, e.g. repair efficiency, transfer switch failure, connect switch failure, preoccupied repair facility etc. The analysis procedure consists in defining a system model by writing different states and transitions between them. Once this is done, the underlying process is visualized as a semi-Markov process and various results from this theory are applied to develop a computer algorithm in FORTRAN IV for obtaining a fairly large number of system output parameters viz., mean-time-to-system failure, steady-state availability, expected number of visits to a state, expected profit rate of the system etc. Two examples are included to illustrate the usage of the procedure developed.     

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.     

On a two dissimilar unit cold standby system with switchover time and proper initialization of connect switching

This paper investigates the stochastic behaviour of a two dissimilar unit cold standby system with connect switching. The connect switch keeps this system in good connection with other systems. The standby unit takes random switchover time to assume the operative state when the operative unit fails. The failure times of the units and connect switch and the repair times of the units are assumed to have different arbitrary distributions. The mean waiting times in the states of the system and expression for the steady state availability of the system are obtained. The results obtained by Kumar and Lal and Laprie [1, 2] are derived from the present results as special cases.     

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.     

Reliability analysis of multi-unit cold standby system with two operating modes

This paper investigates the mathematical model of a system composed of n dissimilar units—one functioning and others either failed or cold standbys. Each unit of the system has three possible modes—normal, partial failure and total failure. There is a perfect switch to operate the leading standby unit on total failure of the operative unit. The failure and repair times of each unit are assumed to follow arbitrary distributions. Several reliability characteristics of interest to system designers as well as operations managers have been evaluated and relevant results obtained earlier are derived as particular cases.     

Stochastic analysis of a 2-unit standby system with two failure modes and slow switch

This paper considers the cost-benefit analysis of a one-server two unit system subject to two different failure modes and slow switch. The failure rates of the units are constant. The repair times and the switchover time are assumed to be arbitrarily distributed. The server repairs the units and puts the standby unit into operation. Detailed analysis of the system is done by using regenerating point technique and results are obtained for mean time to system failure, steady state availability, busy period of a repair man, expected number of visits by the repair man and expected profit earned by the system.     

Stochastic behaviour of a two-unit cold standby system with three modes and allowed down time

This paper discusses the stochastic behaviour of a two-unit cold standby redundant system under two very general sets of conditions: (i) each unit of the system having three different modes of working—normal, partial failure and total failure; (ii) breakdown of the system occurring when with both the units in total failure mode, the system is not regarded as failed (the system fails only when the breakdown does not terminate within the allowed down time). Failure-time distributions of units are exponential, whereas repair time distributions are arbitrary. Several reliability characteristics of interest to system designers as well as operations managers have been evaluated.     

Cost-benefit analysis of a single server three-unit redundant system with inspection, delayed replacement and two types of repair

This paper deals with a redundant system with two types of spare units—a warm standby unit for instantaneous replacement at the time of failure of the active unit and a cold standby (stock) unit which can be replaced after a random amount of time. The type of the failure of operative or warm standby unit is detected by inspection only. The service facility plays the triple role of replacement, inspection and repair of a unit. Failure time distributions of operative and warm standby units are negative exponential whereas the distributions of replacement time, inspection time and repair times are arbitrary. The system has been studied by using regenerative points.     

An (m, M) machine repair problem with spares and state dependent rates: A diffusion process approach

The diffusion approximation model for (m, M) general machine repair problems with spare part support has been developed. The inter-failure time and repair times are assumed to be generally identically and independently distributed (i.i.d.). The failure rate of operating units in a short system when fewer than M units are operating and all spares are being used, is faster than a normal system. The spare units may also fail with rates different from operating units. The repairmen switch to the faster rate to reduce a backlog of down units in the case of a busy repair facility. By using reflecting boundaries, the approximate formulae for some performance measures, namely, expected number of inoperative/operative units and probability that the system is short/down have been obtained.     

Stochastic behavior of a two-dissimilar-unit standby redundant system with repair maintenance

A standby redundant system of two dissimilar units is considered under the assumptions that both the failure and the repair time distributions are arbitrary. The system states are defined corresponding to the failure of the specified units. The first passage time distributions, the expected numbers of visits to a certain state, the transition probabilities, and the limiting probabilities are obtained using the unique modifications of the regeneration point techniques in Markov renewal processes. Two particular cases are finally presented.     

Analyses of Two Different 1-Server Systems

In this paper, the availability and the reliability of two 1-server systems with redundancy have been obtained. System 1 consists of n subsystems in series; each subsystem consists of two redundant i.i.d. components in `parallel' (cold standby) and one server. The times to failure of the components are exponentially distributed; their repair time distributions are arbitrary and different. System 2 consists of n dissimilar units and one server. The times to failure of the units are arbitrarily distributed; the repair rates are constant but all different. Explicit expressions for the Laplace transform of the mean down-time of the system in (0, t) and for the mean time to system failure have been obtained. A few particular cases are discussed.     

Analysis of a repairable redundant system with delayed replacement

The paper deals with a redundant system with two types of spare units—a warm standby unit for instantaneous replacement at the time of failure of the active unit and a cold standby (stock) unit which can be replaced after a random amount of time. Failure time distributions of operative and standby units are exponential whereas all repair times follow arbitrary distributions. The system has been studied in detail by applying the results from the theory of semi-Markov process and mean-time-to-system-failure, steady-state availability, expected number of visits to a state, second moment of time in an up-state and expected profit of the system have been obtained.     

Cost-benefit analysis of one-server two-unit imperfect switch system with degradation

This paper deals with the cost-benefit analysis of 1-server 2-unit system with imperfect switch where the items (units/switch) are not ‘as good as new’ after the repair. The successive repair times of each item are arbitrarily distributed while the successive failure rates are constants. If repair of a unit is not possible it is discarded incurring some salvage value. After a fixed number of failures the unit is scrapped without any salvage value. The switch is always repairable and is scrapped only when both the units are scrapped. The expected revenue, expected busy period due to different types of repairs of units/switch, expected salvage value and expected number of repair completions of the switch, all in [0, t], are obtained to carry out the cost-benefit analysis.     

Two-non-identical unit-system with priority-based repair and inspection

The present paper deals with the analysis of a system consisting of two non-identical parallel units, in which the first type of unit has priority over the second type for repair, inspection and post repair. The failure rates, and the repair, inspection and post repair time distributions for both types of units are assumed to be different. Using the regenerative point technique in the Markov-renewal process, several reliability measures are obtained.     

Two unit repairable redundant standby system

The Laplace-Stieltjes (LS) transform for the distribution of time to first system failure (TFSF), transition probability, availability and mean time to system failure have been derived for two unit repairable redundant standby system with perfect as well as imperfect switchover condition. General expressions for computing various reliability performance indices have been obtained by using Markov Renewal techniques considering general distributions for time to failure and time to repair for the units.