UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

SECOND SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS

MAY 2010

PROGRAMME BEng (Hons) Manufacturing Engineering

MODULE NAME Reliability and Maintenance Engineering

DATE Wednesday MODULE CODE MECH 4066(5)

26 May 2010

TIME 13.30 15.30 Hrs DURATION 2 hours

NO. OF 4 NO. OF QUESTIONS 4

QUESTIONS SET TO BE ATTEMPTED

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

Answer ALL questions.

All questions carry equal marks.

The following tables are attached:

Table 1: Failure function, F(t) for well known theoretical distributions and

Table 2: Reliability function, R(t) for well known theoretical distributions.

 RELIABILITY AND MAINTENANCE ENGINEERING MECH 4066(5)

Answer ALL questions.

All questions carry equal marks.

Question 1

(a) The reliability block diagram for a system is shown in the Figure Q1. The type
of distribution function, which defines the time to failure for each of the
consisting item, is given in Table Q1 together with their parameters.

(i) Derive the reliability function for the system given. [15 marks]

(ii) Determine the probability that the transition to state of failure(SoFa)

will take place within the first 350 hours. [10 marks]

Figure Q1: Reliability Block Diagram for a system

Table Q1: Probability distribution for each individual item

Item Type of distribution Scale Parameter(hours) Shape Parameter

1 Weibull 1000 1.7

2 Exponential 2450 -

3 Weibull 1710 3.7

4 Weibull 3100 2.4

5 Exponential 1800 -

6 Exponential 400 -

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 RELIABILITY AND MAINTENANCE ENGINEERING MECH 4066(5)

Question 2

An engineering system consists of five (5) items which must operate in a satisfactory
manner if the system is to function as expected. The Mean Time Between Failure
(MTBF) and Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) for each item are given in Table Q2.

Table Q2: Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) and

Mean Time To Repair (MTTR)
Item A B C D E

MTBF(hr) 10000 12000 8000 11000 30000

MTTR(hr) 150 110 2 63 300

(a) (i) Draw the system reliability block diagram (RBD) and determine the
failure rate of the system. [10 marks]

(ii) Determine the system inherent availability. [10 marks]

(b) Describe how redundancy could improve the availability of a system.

[5 marks]

Question 3

(a) List four (4) responsibilities of a Reliability Engineering Department.

[4 marks]
(b) Maintenance strategies can be classified among the following categories:

(i) Breakdown Maintenance;

(ii) Fixed Time Maintenance;

(iii) Condition Based Maintenance;

(iv) Design Out Maintenance.

Give a brief description of each category and its application. [12 marks]

(c) (i) Describe the different steps of Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM).
[8 marks]

(ii) In which industry would you recommend RCM as a maintenance

strategy? [1 mark]

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 RELIABILITY AND MAINTENANCE ENGINEERING MECH 4066(5)

Question 4

(a) Figure Q4 shows a gas leak detection and prevention system.

Figure Q4

Given a gas leak, a sonic detector S or a concentration detector C will

independently send a message to computer X which then closes the isolation
valves V1 and V2 with the help of relays contacts R1 and R2.

(i) Construct the Fault Tree for the Top Event Leak Detection and
Prevention System Fails. [12 marks]

(ii) Evaluate the complete list of minimal cut sets. [5 marks]

(b) Describe the basic steps to perform a FMECA (Failure Mode Effect Criticality
Analysis). [8 marks]

END OF QUESTION PAPER

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