Availability analysis of a two-unit series system with a priority shut-off rule

✍ Scribed by Ding-Hua Shi; Liming Liu

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 680 KB
• Volume: 43
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0894-069X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1520-6750(199610)43:7<1009::aid-nav5>3.0.co;2-j

✦ Synopsis

This study shows that the steady-state availability ofa two-unit series system, which operates under a one-direction shut-off rule with a preemptive repair priority for unit I , depends only on the first-order system parameters. First we obtain both transient and steady-state system availability and failure frequency when the lifetime of Unit 1 is Erlang and the other distributions are general. When the lifetime of Unit I is general, the system process has no regenerative point. Using supplementary variables, we establish a vector Markov process and hence transfer the problem to the solution of a system of integrodifferential equations. We can then obtain explicit formulas for the steady-state system availability and failure frequency, respectively. In concluding this article we make some conjectures on series systems and point out future research opportunities.