6 Chapter 6 Reliability

Reliability is an extremely important quality dimension, and reliability engineering,

comprising methodologies and tools for increased reliability, is a vital part in TQM

6.1 The aim of reliability engineering

The aim is:
 to find the causes of failure and try to eliminate these
 to find the consequence of failures and if possible reduce or eliminate their effects,
also called fault tolerance

Causes:
Find
Assess
Reduce
Eliminate

Consequences:
Find
Assess
Relieve
Eliminate

In field of application of reliability is Safety and Risk analysis. It concerns judging risks of
damage to person, property or the environment, caused by the system being analysed.
Common to use statistics

Growing trend to consider the Life cycle cost (LCC). Thus reliability becomes important

In Life cycle analysis, the environmental aspects are also considered.

Life cycle cost:

 Purchase price
 Training
 Documentation
 Costs of stoppage/shutdown
 Maintenance costs
 Reserve materials
 Cassations
 Scrapping
 Running/working expenses

6.2 Dependability
The dependability of a unit is determined by its:
 reliability
 maintainability
 maintenance support
Repairable vs non-repairable units

6.3 Basic concepts

Failure = deviation from the demands made on a product

Probability is needed to describe reliability since failure is hard to predict

6.3.1 Reliability function

Survival probability = the probability that that a unit still works after the operating time t, as a
function it is called reliability function (survival function) R(t)

F(t) = 1 – R(t)

6.3.2 Failure rate

λ(t) = f(t) / R(t) = failure rate

Periods of failure, bathtub :

1. early failure period
2. constant failure rate period
3. wear-out period

if the failure rate is constant, say λ, the reliability function can be written R(t) = exp(-λt), t > 0

6.4 Systems reliability

When a system of sub-parts is studied from a reliability point of view, the structure is often
illustrated with a reliability block diagram

6.4.1 Series systems

If a series system is to survive for the time t all the components have to survive for time t. If
they are independent of each other, the total reliability is the product of the different factors
multiplied by each other.

6.4.2 Parallel systems

If the system works as long as at least one component works we have a parallel system. A
parallel system has only failed at time t if all the sub-units have failed.

6.4.3 Other systems

Successive reductions can be used if it is a mixture of parallel and serial systems.

6.4.4 Redundancy
When fault tolerance is to be achieved it is necessary to distinguish between two different
kinds of faults:
 faults affecting functions that are used occasionally – supervison or testing
 faults affecting functions that are used frequently – let another component take over
the function, redundancy

A redundancy can be:

 parallel or functional
  active or stand-by
 complete or partial
 load-carrying or non-load carrying

6.5 Repairable systems

The failure risk when studying repairable systems is often measured in terms of failure
intensity. The probability that a unit which works at time t, will fail before tme t+h is roughly
equal z(t)*h = the failure intensity z(t) multiplied by the length of the interval

Two ways to repair:

 as-good-as-new, renewal model, maximum repair
 as-bad-as-old, minimal repair

Availability = “the ability of an item to be in a state to perform a required function under

given conditions at a given instant of time, assuming that the required external resources are
provided”

6.6 Feedback
Taking advantage of experience from older designs is extremely important for the design of
reliable products. A systematic feedback of reliability information from usage and tests is
important for the designer

Graphical methods for the analysis of failure data of non-repairable units is probability
plotting and TTT-plotting

6.6.1 Probability plotting

The scale of a probability plotting paper can be different. If it turns out that the failure rate

6.6.2 TTT-plotting
TTT = total time on test

The TTT-plot gives information about the failure rate of the current kind of unit

If concave TTT-plot, then increasing failure rate and probably it is profitable to perform
preventive maintenance at suitable intervals

6.7 Some qualitative analysis methodologies

FMEA and FTA

6.7.1 Failure mode and effect analysis – FMEA

Is a very useful methodology for reliability analysis. It involves:
 a systematic check-up of a product or a process,
 its function,
 failure modes,
 failure causes,
 failure consequences
By FMEA you can “see” how you can take measures to prevent failures or reduce the
consequences of failures

During design FMEA can be used for various reliability activities

Design-FMEA
Process-FMEA

The result of an FMEA is entered on an FMEA form

FMECA = failure mode, effects and criticality analysis

RPN = risk priority number = probability of failure * degree of seriousness * probability for
detection

6.7.2 Fault tree analysis

FTA is a logical chart of occurrence on a system level and its causes on lower systems levels

Begins with the non-desired top event and then breaking down the problem.

6.7.3 Top-down or bottom-up?

Use both!

6.8 The development of reliability engineering

Weibull and Epstein