EMP5103 Final Exam 2001

1. A robot system can either fail completely or it undergoes preventative

maintenance. Prove, using the Markov method that its steady state availability is
given by:
AV SS

f p
f p p f f p

where
AV SS is the robot system steady availability
p
is the robot system preventative maintenance rate

is the robot system failure rate

is the repair rate with respect to preventative maintenance

is the robot system repair rate from failed state

Solution:
p
Robot down
for preventive

Robot
Operating

maintenance

Robot Failed

Po (t t ) Po (t )(1 f t )(1 p t ) P f (t ) f t Pp (t ) p t
P f (t t ) P f (t )(1 f t ) Po (t ) f t
Pp (t t ) Pp (t )(1 p t ) Po (t ) p t

Po (t t ) Po (t ) ( f p ) Po (t )t P f (t ) f t Pp (t ) p t
P (t t ) Po (t )
lim o
( f p ) Po (t ) P f (t ) f Pp (t ) p
t
t 0
dPo (t )
( f p ) Po (t ) P f (t ) f Pp (t ) p
dt
dPp (t )
dt
dP f (t )

p Pp (t ) Po (t ) p

f P f (t ) Po (t ) f
dt
At _ time _ t 0, Po (0) 1, Pp (0) P f (0) 0
f (t ) lim sf ( s )
Final value Theorem: tlim
0
s 0

sPo ( s ) Po ( s ) ( f p ) Po ( s ) Pp ( s ) p Pf ( s ) f
sPo ( s ) 1 ( f p ) Po ( s ) Pp ( s ) p Pf ( s ) f
sPp ( s ) p Pp ( s ) Po ( s ) p
Pp ( s )

Po ( s ) p
s p

sPf ( s ) f Pf ( s ) Po ( s ) f
Pf ( s )

Po ( s ) f
s f

Plug Pf (s) and Pp (s) into Po (s) above to get :

Po ( s )

( s f )( s p )

s s s( f p p f ) f p p f f p
2

A s 2 s( f p p f ) f p p f f p
Pp ( s )
Pf ( s )

f (s p )
sA
p (s f )
sA

Ass Po lim sPo ( s )

s 0

f p
f p p f f p

2. (a) What are the four classifications of reliability cost? Discuss each category in
detail.
(b) List at least ten major responsibilities of a reliability engineering department.
Solutions:
(a) Reliability cost = PC+ AC + IFC + EFC

Prevention Cost:
- Redundancy
- Parts
- Hourly cost and overhead rates for design engineers, reliability engineers,
etc
Appraisal Cost:

Hourly cost and overhead rates for evaluation, reliability qualification,

reliability demonstration, life-testing, etc
Vendor assurance cost for new component qualification, inspection, etc
Etc

Internal Failure Cost:

- Hourly cost and overhead rates for troubleshooting and repair, retesting,
failure analysis, etc
- Replaced parts cost.
- Spare parts inventory.
- Etc
External Failure Cost:
- Cost to failure or repair.
- Replaced parts cost.
- Cost of failure analysis.
- Warranty administration and reporting cost.
- Liability insurance.
- Etc

(b)

Establishing reliability policy, plan, and procedures.

Reliability allocation.
Reliability prediction (MIL-HDBK-217).
Specification and design reviews with respect to reliability.
Reliability growth monitoring.
Providing reliability related inputs to design specification and proposals.
Reliability demonstration (MIL-STD-471).
Training reliability manpower and performing reliability-related research and
development work.
Monitoring subcontractors, if any, reliability activities.
Auditing the reliability activities.
Failure data collection and reporting.
Failure data analysis.
Consulting.
Etc

3. (a) List and discuss at least 10 tasks of a Reliability Engineer.

(b) Describe the following:
(i) Bathtub hazard rate curve
(ii) AND gate
(iii)
OR gate
(iv)Cumulative distribution function
(v) Exponential distribution
Solution:

(a)
-

Performing analysis of a proposed design.

Analyzing customer complaints with reliability.
Investigating field failures.
Running tests on the system, sub-system and parts.
Developing tests on the system, subsystem and components.
Budgeting the tolerable system failure down to the component level.
Developing a reliability program plan.
Determining reliability of alternative designs.
Providing information to designers or management concerning reliability.
Monitoring sub-contractors reliability performance.
Participating in evaluating requests for proposals.
Developing reliability models and techniques.
Participating in design reviews.
Etc

(b) Bathtub Hazard Rate Curve:

(t)

Burn-in period

Useful life period

Wear out period

t
Has three time periods: burn-in period, useful life period, and wear out period.
(t ) kct c1 (1 k )bt b1 e t

For b,c,, > 0

0 k 1
t0
And c = 0.5 and b = 1 to get the shape above
b,c = shape parameters
, = scale parameters
t = time
AND Gate:

output

inputs
The AND gate denotes that an output event occurs if and only if all the input events
occur.
OR Gate:

output

inputs
The OR gate denotes that an output event occurs if any one or more of the input events
occur.
Cumulative Distribution Function:
t

F (t )

f ( x)dx
0

where f (x ) is the probability density function

Exponential Distribution:
f (t ) exp t
t

F (t ) exp x dx exp x | 1 exp t

0

R (t ) 1 F (t ) exp t
f (t )
(t )

R(t )

4. Prove that the mean time to failure of a parallel system is given by:

1
j 1 j

MTTF

is the mean time to failure of a unit with exponentially distributed failure times
n is the total number of units in the system

State any assumptions associated with your derivations.

Solution:
For a given unit, the reliability is denoted as: exp t

For a given unit, the MTTF is denoted as: exp t dt

0
In a parallel system with n identical components, the reliability is:
R p 1 1 R

R p 1 1 exp t

MTTF p

1 1 exp t

R p (t )dt

dt

u 1 exp t
du exp t dt dt

du
du

exp t
1 u

t 0 u 0, t u 1
1

n
n
n
1 un
ui 1
1
MTTFp
du u i 1du |
0
1 u
i 1 i
i 1 i
0
0 i 1

EMP5103 Final Exam 2000

1. Same as question 2 from 2001.

2. Same as question 3 from 2001.

3. Prove, using the Markov method that a systems steady state unavailability,
UV SS is given by:
UVSS

where
is the constant failure rate of the system
is the constant repair rate of the system

Solution:

System operating

P0 t t P0 (t )1 t P1 (t ) t
P1 t t P1 (t )1 t P0 (t )t

At time t 0, P0 (0) 1 and P1( 0 ) 0

dP0 (t )
P0 (t ) P1 (t )
dt
dP1 (t )
P1 (t ) P0 (t )
dt
sP0 ( s ) P0 (0) P0 ( s ) P1 ( s )

s P0 ( s) 1 P1 ( s)
P0 ( s )

P1 ( s )
s s

sP1 ( s ) P1 (0) P1 ( s ) P0 ( s )

s P1 ( s) P0 ( s)

System failed
1

P1 ( s )

P0 ( s )
s

P0 ( s )

P0 ( s )
s s s

1
P0 ( s ) 1

s

s
s
P0 ( s )
2
s s s s
P1 ( s )

s s2 s s2 s

UAV ss lim sP1 ( s ) lim

s 0

s 0

UAV ss

4. Obtain hazard rate expressions for the following failure probability density,
f(t), and reliability, R(t), functions:
(i) f (t ) e t
1

(ii) R (t ) e t

where t is time

is the constant failure rate

is the scale parameter
is the shape parameter

Solution:
(i ) F (t ) 1 exp t
R (t ) 1 F (t ) exp t

(t )

f (t ) exp t

R (t )
exp t

(ii ) (t )

1 dR (t )

R (t ) dt

1
1

exp t
t

1
1

exp t

1
t

***All other exams are a repetition of these questions***