Reliability
• Generally defined as the ability of a product
to perform as expected over time
• Formally defined as the probability that a
product, piece of equipment, or system
performs its intended function for a stated
period of time under specified operating
conditions
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 1
Maintainability
• The probability that a system or product
can be retained in, or one that has failed
can be restored to, operating condition in
a specified amount of time.
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 2
Types of Failures
• Functional failure – failure that occurs
at the start of product life due to
manufacturing or material detects
• Reliability failure – failure after some
period of use
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 3
Types of Reliability
• Inherent reliability – predicted by
product design
• Achieved reliability – observed during
use
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 4
Reliability Measurement
• Failure rate (l) – number of failures
per unit time
• Alternative measures
– Mean time to failure
– Mean time between failures
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 5
Cumulative Failure Rate Curve
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 6
Failure Rate Curve
“Infant
mortality
period”
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 7
Average Failure Rate
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 8
Reliability Function
• Probability density function of failures
f(t) = le-lt for t > 0
• Probability of failure from (0, T)
F(t) = 1 – e-lT
• Reliability function
R(T) = 1 – F(T) = e-lT
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 9
Series Systems
1 2 n
RS = R1 R2 ... Rn
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 10
Parallel Systems
1
RS = 1 - (1 - R1) (1 - R2)... (1 - Rn)
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 11
Series-Parallel Systems
C
RA RB RD
RC
A B D
C
RC
• Convert to equivalent series system
RA RB RD
A B C’ D
RC’ = 1 – (1-RC)(1-RC)
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 12
Reliability Engineering
• Standardization
• Redundancy
• Physics of failure
• Reliability testing
• Burn-in
• Failure mode and effects analysis
• Fault tree analysis
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 13
Reliability Management
• Define customer performance requirements
• Determine important economic factors and
relationship with reliability requirements
• Define the environment and conditions of product
use
• Select components, designs, and vendors that meet
reliability and cost criteria
• Determine reliability requirements for machines
and equipment
• Analyze field reliability for improvement
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 14
Configuration Management
1. Establish approved baseline
configurations (designs)
2. Maintain control over all changes in the
baseline programs (change control)
3. Provide traceability of baselines and
changes (configuration accounting)
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 15
Maintainability
• Maintainability is the totality of design
factors that allows maintenance to be
accomplished easily
• Preventive maintenance reduces the risk
of failure
• Corrective maintenance is the response to
failures
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 16
Design Issues
• Access of parts for repair
• Modular construction and
standardization
• Diagnostic repair procedures and
expert systems
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 17
Availability
• Operational availability
MTBF MTBM = mean time between
AO
MTBM MDT maintenance
MTD = mean down time
• Inherent availability
MTBF = mean time between
MTBF failures
AO
MTBF MTTR MTTR = mean time to repair
THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 5e, © 2002 South-Western/Thomson LearningTM 18
