IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology

eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

MEASUREMENT OF RELIABILITY PARAMETERS FOR A POWER

PLANT BY USING ALGEBRA OF LOGICS
Reena Garg1
1

Assistant Professor Mathematics, YMCA University of Science & Technology, Faridabad 121006

Abstract
In this paper, the author has considered a power plant to evaluate its reliability parameters by using algebra of logics. The system
configuration has been shown in fig-1. In this power plant, there are two identical generators G1 and G2 in standby
redundancy. Only one generator is sufficient to fulfill the power requirements of whole system. The author has used four change
over devices CO1 through CO4 to feed power to four machine M 1 , M 2 , M 3 and M 4 .It is assumed that the cables used, to
connect all equipments, are hundred percent reliable and we need to operate two machines
simultaneously. These machines can be operated by switching devices

M 1 , M 2 , or M 3 and M 4

SD1 through SD4 .

Keywords: power plant, identical generators, standby redundancy, changes over devices.
--------------------------------------------------------------------***-----------------------------------------------------------------1. INTRODUCTION
In the beginning, the whole power plant is operable and there is no repair facility to repair a failed unit/component of power plant.
The author has obtained the reliability of the system as a whole and reliability function for the system in two cases, i.e., when
failure rates follow weibull or exponential time distribution. An important reliability parameter, mean time to failure (M.T.T.F.),
has also been evaluated in both the cases. In the end of paper, the author has been given a numerical computation and its graphical
illustration to highlight the important results for their practical importance. The results obtained in this study, can be applied for
the power plant of similar configuration.

Fig-1: System Configuration

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Volume: 03 Issue: 09 | Sep-2014, Available @ http://www.ijret.org

101

IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology

2. ASSUMPTIONS
The following assumptions have been associated with this
model:
(1) Initially, all the components are good.
(2) There is no repair facility available.
(3) Failure times of all components of the power plant
are arbitrary.
(4) Failures are statistically-independent.
(5) Reliability of each component of power plant is
known in advance.
(6) Transition of power from one component to other is
all reliable.
(7) Every component of the system remains either in
good or in bad state.
(8) Only one generator is sufficient to fullfil the power
requirement of whole power plant.
(9) Mostly, we need two machines M1 and M2 or M3
and M4 to operate simultaneously.

eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

x1
x
1
x1

x1
F x1 , x 2 x10
x
2
x2
x
2
x 2

x3

x4

x3

x4

x3

x4

x3

x4

x3

x4

x3

x4

x3

x4

x3

x4

x5 x 7
x5 x8
x6 x9

x6 x10
x5 x 7

x 5 x8
x 6 x9

x6 x10

5. SOLUTION OF THE MODEL

Using algebra of logics, we may write equation (1) as:

F x1 , x2 x10 x3

x4 f x1 , x2 , x5 , x10 ,
(2)

3. NOTATIONS
The following notations have been used throughout this
paper:
: States of generators G ,G
x1 , x2
1
2
respectively;
: States of change over devices CO1
x3 , x 4 , x5 , x 6
through CO4;
:
x7 , x8 , x9 , x10
States of switching devices SD1
through

SD4 ;

xi

Negation of state x i ,

xi
/
Ri

:
:
:

=1, in good state; =0 in bad state;

Conjunction/Disjunction;
Reliability of the component
corresponding to state x i ;

Si

1 Ri , i ;

RS

RSE t / RSW t

Reliability of the power plant as a

whole;
Reliability functions when failures
follow Weibull/exponential time
distribution.

4.

(1)

FORMULATION

OF

i ;

MATHEMATICAL

MODEL
By making use of Boolean function technique, the
conditions of capability of the successful operation of the
power plant in terms of logical matrix are expressed as:

Where

x1
x
1
x1

x1
f x1 , x 2 , x5 , x10
x
2
x2
x
2
x 2

x5 x7
x5 x8
x 6 x9

x6 x10
x5 x 7

x 5 x8
x 6 x9

x6 x10

(3)

Substituting

B1 x1

x5

x7

B2 x1

x5

x8

(5)

B3 x1

x6

x9

(6)

B4 x1

x6

x10

(7)

B5 x2

x5

x7

(8)

B6 x2

x5

x8

(9)

B7 x2

x6

x9

(10)

B8 x2

x6

x10

(11)

(4)

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Volume: 03 Issue: 09 | Sep-2014, Available @ http://www.ijret.org

102

IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology

in equation (3), we have

B1
B
2
B3

B4
f x1 , x 2 , x5 , x10
B
5
B6
B
7
B8

x1

B2
B2
B2
B2
B2
B2
B2

B3
B3
B3
B3
B3
B3

B4
B4

x1
B1 B2 B3
x1

B4
B4
B4

B5
B5
B5
B5

B6
B6
B6

x5
x5

x1
B1 B2 x1
x1

B7
B7

x5

x6

x5

x6

x9
x7

x6 x9
x6 x7

B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 x1

(13)

B8

(15)
x9

x8
x10
x8

x2

x1 x2
B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 x1 x2
x1 x2

(16)
x9 x10
x7

x5

x5 x7
x5 x6

(17)

x8

x7 x8

x7 x8 x9 x10

x5 x 6

(18)

x1 x2
B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7
x1 x2

x5 x6
x5 x 6

x9

x7 x8 x9

(19)

x7

x5

(14)

x5

x1 x5
B1 B2 B3 B4
x1 x5

Now we have

x1
B1 x1
x1

x8

x7

Similarly, we obtain

(12)

Using orthogonalisation algorithm, equation (12) may be

written as
B1
B
1
B1

B1
f x1 , x 2 , x5 , x10
B
1
B1
B
1
B1

x5

eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

And

x1 x2 x5 x6 x9 x10

B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8

x1 x2 x5 x6 x7 x8 x9 x10

x
1

x7

(20)

x5

x8

Therefore, equation (13) becomes, subjected to equations (14) through (20):

x1
x
1
x1

x1
x
1
x1
x
1
f x1 , x 2 , x5 , x10
x1

x1
x1

x1
x
1
x1

x1

x5
x5
x5

x7
x 7
x6

x8
x9
x 7

x5
x5

x6

x5

x6

x2

x5

x2

x5

x7
x 7

x2

x5

x2

x6

x9
x 7

x8

x9

x10
x8

x9

x 6

x8
x 7

x8

x5
x5

x6

x 7

x8

x9

x6
x6

x8

x9

x2

x5
x5

x9
x 7

x2

x5

x6

x9
x 7

x10
x8

x9

x2
x2

x6

x10

x10

x10

(21)

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Volume: 03 Issue: 09 | Sep-2014, Available @ http://www.ijret.org

103

IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology

eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

Using equation (21), equation (2) gives

x1
x
1
x1

x1
x
1
x1
x
1
F x1 , x 2 , x10
x1

x1
x1

x1
x
1
x1

x1

x3

x4

x5

x3

x4

x3

x4

x5
x5

x3

x4

x3

x7
x7
x6

x8
x9
x7

x6

x4

x5
x5

x3

x4

x5

x6

x2

x3

x4

x5

x2

x3

x4

x5

x2

x3

x4

x5

x2

x3

x4

x2

x3

x4

x5
x5

x2

x3

x4

x6

x2

x3

x4

x5
x5

x2

x3

x4

x5

x6

x6

x8

x9

x9 x10
x7 x8 x9

x10

x7
x 7 x8
x 6 x7

x8

x6

x7

x8

x9

x6

x9
x7

x8

x9

x9
x7

x10
x8 x9

x6

x10

x10

(23)

Since, R.H.S. of equation (23) is disjunction of pair-wise disjoint conjunctions, therefore, the reliability of considered power plant
will be:

RS Pr F x1 , x2 x10 1

R3 R4 R1 R5 R7 R1 R5 R8 S 7 R1 R6 R9 S 5 R1 R5 R6 R8 R9 S 7 S 5 S 9 R1 R6 R10
S 7 S 9 R1 R5 R6 R8 R10 S1 R2 R5 R7 S1 S 7 R2 R5 R8 S 6 S 7 R1 R2 R5 R8
S1 S 5 R2 R6 R9 S 7 S 9 R1 R2 R5 R6 R8 R10 S1 S 7 S 8 R2 R5 R6 R9
S1 S 5 S 9 R2 R6 R10 S1 S 7 S 8 S 9 R2 R5 R6 R10 ,
Where, S i 1 Ri , i 1,2, 10.
or,

RS R3 R4 R1 R5 R7 R1 R5 R8 R1 R6 R9 R2 R5 R7 R1 R6 R10 R2 R5 R8

R2 R6 R9 R2 R6 R10 R1 R5 R6 R8 R9 R1 R5 R6 R9 R10 R1 R5 R6 R8 R10

R1 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 R1 R2 R5 R6 R7 R8 R1 R2 R5 R6 R8 R10
R1 R2 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 R1 R2 R5 R6 R7 R9 R1 R2 R5 R6 R8 R9 R2 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9
R1 R2 R6 R9 R10 R1 R2 R5 R6 R7 R10 R1 R2 R5 R6 R8 R10 R2 R5 R6 R7 R8 R10
R2 R5 R6 R7 R9 R10 R2 R5 R6 R8 R9 R10 R1 R2 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10
R1 R5 R7 R8 R1 R5 R6 R9 R1 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R1 R2 R5 R7 R1 R5 R6 R10

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Volume: 03 Issue: 09 | Sep-2014, Available @ http://www.ijret.org

104

IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology

eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

R1 R6 R9 R10 R1 R5 R6 R7 R8 R10 R1 R5 R6 R8 R9 R10 R2 R5 R7 R8 R1 R2 R5 R6 R8

R1 R2 R5 R6 R7 R8 R10 R1 R2 R5 R6 R8 R9 R10 R1 R2 R6 R9 R2 R5 R6 R7 R9
R2 R5 R6 R8 R9 R1 R2 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R1 R2 R6 R10 R2 R6 R9 R10 R2 R5 R6 R7 R10
R2 R5 R6 R8 R10 R1 R2 R5 R6 R7 R8 R10 R1 R2 R5 R6 R7 R9 R10 R1 R2 R5 R6 R8 R9 R10
R2 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10

(24)

a 9 c 1 5 6 7 8 9 10

6. SOME PARTICULAR CASES

6.1 CASE I: If the Reliability of each Component of
Power Plant is R:

a11 c 1 2 5 6 7 8

In this case, equation (24) yields:

RS 8R 5 9R 6 R 7 7 R 8 6R 9 2R10 (25)
6.2 CASE II: When Failure Rates follow Weibull
Distribution
Let

i be the failure rates corresponding to component

states xi , i 1,2 10 . Then, reliability function of

power plant, at an instantt, is given by:

25

24

RSW t exp . ai t exp . b j t

i 1

where,

a10 c 2 5 8

(26)

a12 c 1 2 5 6 8 10
a13 c 1 2 5 6 7 8 9 10
a14 c 2 6 9
a15 c 1 2 5 6 7 9
a16 c 1 2 5 6 8 9
a17 c 2 5 6 7 8 9

j 1

is a positive parameter and

a18 c 2 6 10

a1 c 1 5 7

a19 c 1 2 6 9 10

a 2 c 1 5 8

a 20 c 1 2 5 6 7 10

a 3 c 1 6 9

a 21 c 1 2 5 6 8 10

a 4 c 1 5 6 8 9

a 22 c 2 5 6 7 8 10

a 5 c 2 5 7

a 23 c 2 5 6 7 9 10

a 6 c 1 6 10

a 24 c 2 5 6 8 9 10

a 7 c 1 5 6 9 10

a 25 c 1 2 5 6 7 8 9 10

a 8 c 1 5 6 8 10

Also,

b1 c 1 5 7 8

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Volume: 03 Issue: 09 | Sep-2014, Available @ http://www.ijret.org

105

IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology

b2 c 1 5 6 9
b3 c 1 5 6 7 8 9
b4 c 1 2 5 7
b5 c 1 5 6 10
b6 c 1 6 9 10
b7 c 1 5 6 7 8 10
b8 c 1 5 6 8 9 10
b9 c 2 5 7 8
b10 c 1 2 5 6 8
b11 c 1 2 5 6 7 8 10
b12 c 1 2 5 6 8 9 10
b13 c 1 2 6 9
b14 c 2 5 6 7 9
b15 c 2 5 6 8 9

eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

Again, the M.T.T.F. of the power plant, in this case, is given

by:

M .T .T .F .W RSW t dt
0

24
1 1 25 1
1

1
i 1 ai j 1 b j 1

(27)

6.3 CASE III: When Failures follow Exponential

Distribution
Exponential distribution is nothing but a particular case of
weibull distribution for 1 and is very useful for
practical problem purpose. Therefore, the reliability function
for considered power plant at an instant t, in this case, is
given by

RSE t exp . ai t exp . b j t

25

24

i 1

j 1

(28)

and expression for M.T.T.F., in this case, is given by

M .T .T .F .E RSE t dt
0
25
1

i 1 ai

24 1

j 1 b j

(29)

7. NUMERICAL COMPUTATION

b16 c 1 2 5 6 7 8 9

For a numerical computation, let us consider the values:

b17 c 1 2 6 10

(a)

b18 c 2 6 9 10
b19 c 2 5 6 7 10
b20 c 2 5 6 8 10
b21 c 1 2 5 6 7 8 10
b22 c 1 2 5 6 7 9 10
b23 c 1 2 5 6 8 9 10

i i 1,2 10 0.002, 2

and t 0,1,2 in equation (26);

(b) i i 1,2 10 0.002, t 0,1,2 in
equation (28).
By using (a) and (b), we compute the table-1 and the
corresponding graph has been shown in fig-2.
(c)
and
2
i i 1,2 10 0, 0.04, 0.09 ,1 in
equation (27);
(d) i i 1,2 10 0, 0.04, 0.09 ,1 in
equation (29).
By using (c) and (d), we compute the table-2 and the
corresponding graph has been shown in fig-3.

b24 c 2 5 6 7 8 9 10
and c 3 4

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Volume: 03 Issue: 09 | Sep-2014, Available @ http://www.ijret.org

106

Table-1

R SW t

R SE t

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

1
0.9979
0.9917
0.9803
0.9628
0.9379
0.9044
0.8614
0.8088
0.7471
0.6778

1
0.9979
0.9959
0.9938
0.9917
0.9895
0.9872
0.9849
0.9826
0.9803
0.9779

M.T.T.F. ----->

IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology

eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

M.T.T.F.(W)
M.T.T.F.(E)

0 0.04 0.09 0.16 0.25 0.36 0.49 0.64 0.81

Reliability-->

Reliability Vs Time
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0

Failure Rate ----->

Fig-3

8. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

RSE(t)
RSW(t)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Time-->
Fig-2
Table-2

In this study, the author has been obtained various

performance measures of considered power plant, by using
algebra of logics. The reliability and M.T.T.F. of power
plant have been obtained in two different cases, i.e., when
failures follow Weibull and exponential time distributions.
The final results have been mentioned in the equations (25)
through (29).
A critical examination of fig-2 and 3 shows that
performance of considered system decreases with time. In
case of Weibull time distribution, performance decreases
catastrophically in the beginning but thereafter it decreases
in a constant manner. We conclude in last that exponential
time distribution gives better results as compared with
Weibull time distribution.

M.T.T.F.W

M.T.T.F.E

REFERENCES

[1]

0.04

1.6198

9.1369

[2]

0.09

1.0799

4.0608

0.16

0.8099

2.2842

0.25

0.6479

1.4619

0.36

0.5399

1.0152

0.49

0.4628

0.7459

0.64

0.4049

0.5711

0.81

0.3599

0.4512

1.0

0.3239

0.3655

[3]

[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]

[8]

Calabro, S.R.: Reliability Principles and Practices,

McGraw Hill Book Company, Inc. New York, 1962.
Cinlar, E: Introduction to Stochastic Processes,
Prentice Hall Inc. Englewood cliffs, New Jersey,
1975.
Culp, W. Archie: Principles of Energy
Conversion, McGraw Hill Book Company, New
York, 2000.
Dhillon, B.S.: Quality Control, Reliability and
Engineering Design, Marcel Dekker, 1985.
Dhillon, B.S.: Design Reliability, CRC Press,
1999.
Dhillon, B.S.: Reliability, Quality and Safety
Engineers, Taylor Francis, 2004.
Degarmo, E.; Black, J.T.; Ronald, A.: Materials
and Processes in Manufacturing, Prentice Hall of
India, 1997.
Nagraja, H.N.; Kannan, N.; Krishnan, N.B.:
"Reliability", Springer Publication, 2004.

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Volume: 03 Issue: 09 | Sep-2014, Available @ http://www.ijret.org

107

IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology

[9]

[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]

[14]
[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

Nikolaidis , E.; Ghiocel , D.M. ; Singhal , S. :

"Engineering Design Reliability Handbook", CRC
Press, 2004.
N.Ravichandran ; "Stochastic Methods in Reliability
Theory", Wiley Eastern Ltd.; New Delhi, 1990.
Nagrath, I.J.; Gopal, M.: "System Modeling and
Analysis", Tata McGraw Hill Book Company, 1998.
Osaki, S.: "Stochastic Models in Reliability and
Maintenance", Springer Publication, 2002.
Rao, Singiresu S.: "Engineering Optimization;
Theory and Practice", New Age Int.(P) Limited,
1999.
Rao, S.; Parulekar, B.B.: Energy Technology,
Khanna Publishers, New Delhi, 2002.
Kuo, W; Prasad, V.R.; Tillman, F.A. and Hwang,
C.L: "Fundamental and Applications of Reliability
Optimization, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 2000.
Chung, W. K.: "A k-out -of n: G Redundant System
with the Presence of Chance with Multiple Critical
Errors, Microelectronic Reliab. ,
Vol. 33, pp
334-338, 1993.
Chung, W. K.: " Reliability Analysis of a k-out -of
n: G Redundant System in the Presence of Chance
with Multiple Critical Errors", Microelectronic
Reliab. , Vol. 32, pp 331 334, 1993.
Cluzeau, T.; Keller, J.; Schneeweiss, W.: An
Efficient Algorithm for Computing the Reliability of
Consecutive-k-out-of-n:F Systems, IEEE TR. on
Reliability, Vol.57 (1), PP 84-87, 2008.
Dhillon, B. S.; Natesan, J.: "Stochastic Analysis of
Outdoor
Power
System
in
Fluctuating
Environment, Microelectronic Reliab. , Vol.23, pp
867 887, 1983.
Dhillon, B. S.: "Reliability Analysis of NonMaintained Parallel System Subject to Hardware
Failure and Human Error", Microelectronic Reliab.,
Vol. 25, pp 121 -122, 1985.
Dhillon, B. S.; Vishvanath, H. C.: "Reliability
Analysis of Non - identical Units Parallel System
with Common Cause Failure", Microelectronic
Reliab., Vol. 31, pp 429 441, 1991.
Dhillon, B. S. and Yang N. J.: "Stochastic Analysis
of Standby System with Common Cause Failure and
Human Error, Microelectronic Reliab. , Vol. 32, pp
1699 1712, 1992.
Dhillon, B. S. and Yang Nianfu: "Availability of a
Man - Machine System with Critical and Noncritical Human Errors, Microelectronic Reliab. ,
Vol. 33 (10), pp 1511 1521, 1993.

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Volume: 03 Issue: 09 | Sep-2014, Available @ http://www.ijret.org

108