Reliability optimization for non-repairable series-parallel systems with a choice of redundancy strategies and heterogeneous components: Erlang time-to-failure distribution

Abstract

The redundancy allocation problem (RAP) of non-repairable series-parallel systems considering cold standby components and imperfect switching mechanism has been traditionally formulated with the objective of maximizing a lower bound on system reliability instead of exact system reliability. This objective function has been considered due to the difficulty of determining a closed-form expression for the system reliability equation. But, the solution that maximizes the lower bound for system reliability does not necessarily maximize exact system reliability and thus, the obtained system reliability may be far from the optimal reliability. This article attempts to overcome the mentioned drawback. Under the assumption that component time-to-failure is distributed according to an Erlang distribution and switch time-to-failure is exponentially distributed, a closed-form expression for the subsystem cold standby reliability equation is derived by solving an integrodifference equation. A semi-analytical expression is also derived for the reliability equation of a subsystem with mixed redundancy strategy. The accuracy and the correctness of the derived equations are validated analytically. Using these equations, the RAP of non-repairable series-parallel systems with a choice of redundancy strategies is formulated. The proposed mathematical model maximizes exact system reliability at mission time given system design constraints. Unlike most of the previous formulations, the possibility of using heterogeneous components in each subsystem is provided so that the active components can be of one type and the standby ones of the other. The results of an illustrative example demonstrate the high performance of the proposed model in determining optimal design configuration and increasing system reliability.