Availability analysis of k-out-of-n: F repairable balanced systems with m sectors

Abstract

This paper considers a novel k-out-of-n: F repairable balanced system with m sectors. The characteristic of this balanced system is that the numbers of working components in the m sectors must keep the same at any time. Thus, some components should be shut down manually when the balance is broken. Specifically, two Markov repairable system models are proposed in this paper in terms of different restart mechanisms of shut down components. The excellent Markov process imbedding method is used to obtain the system reliabilities and availabilities. Phase-type (PH) distributions for the lifetime and repair time of the components in the first model are considered. For the second case of the second model, three different maintenance policies are proposed and their performances are compared through several numerical examples. To the best of our knowledge, the k-out-of-n: F repairable balanced system models proposed in the research of this paper are first reported in literature. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the models and the approaches.