Supplement to Chapter 4 RELIABILITY Reliability.

The ability of a product, part, or system to perform its intended function under a prescribed set of conditions. There are three important aspects of reliability: 1. Reliability as a probability 2. Definition of failure. Failure is a situation in which a product, part, or system does not perform as intended. 3. Prescribed operating system. Normal operating conditions is the set of conditions under which an items reliability is specified. Quantifying Reliability Probability is used in two ways: 1. The probability that the product or system will function on any given trial. 2. The probability that the product or system will function for a given length of time. The first of these focuses on one point in time and is often used when a system must operate for one time or a relatively few number of times. The second of these focuses on the length of service. Independent events. Events whose occurrence or non-occurrence do not influence each other. The use of probability rules to determine whether a given system will operate successfully: 1. If two or more events are independent and success is defined as the probability that all of the events occur, then the probability of success is equal to the product of the probabilities of the events. Redundancy. The use of backup components to increase reliability. 2. If two events are independent and success is defined as the probability that at least one of the events will occur, the probability of success is equal to the probability of either one plus 1 minus that probability multiplied by the other probability 3. If three events are involved and success is defined as the probability that at least one of them occurs, the probability of success is equal to the probability that the first one, plus the product of 1 minus that probability and the probability of the second event, plus the product of 1 minus each of the first two probabilities and the probability the third event, and so on. Mean time between failures. The average length of time between failures of a product or component. P (no failure before T) = e T/MTBF Where e Natural logarithm, 2.7183 T Length of service before failure MTBF Mean time between failures The probability that failure will occur before time T is 1 minus that amount: P (failure before T) = 1 - e T/MTBF z is a standardized value computed using the formula: z = (T Mean wear-out time) / Standard deviation of wear-out time Availability. The fraction of time a piece of equipment is expected to be available for operation. Availability can range from zero (never available) to 1 (always available). Availability = MTBF / (MTBF + MTR) Where MTBF Mean time between failures MTR Mean time to repair

Two implications for designs are revealed by the availability formula: 1. Availability increases as the mean time between failures increases. 2. Availability also increases as the mean repair time decreases. Improving Reliability 1. Improve component design 2. Improve production and/or assembly techniques 3. Improve testing 4. Use redundancy 5. Improve preventive maintenance 6. Improve user education 7. Improve system design