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BTH 780 Reliability Engineering

This document provides an overview of key concepts in reliability engineering. It defines reliability as the probability that a product will perform without failure under specified conditions for a given time period. Metrics for reliability include mean time between failures (MTBF) for repairable items and mean time to failure (MTTF) for non-repairable items. Durability relates to a component's ability to withstand degradation over time. Objectives of reliability engineering are to prevent failures, identify and correct causes of failures, and develop methods to estimate reliability. The costs of non-reliability and benefits of reliability are discussed. Reasons for teaching reliability engineering include complex modern systems and traditional engineering education's focus on how products work rather than how they

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73 views31 pages

BTH 780 Reliability Engineering

This document provides an overview of key concepts in reliability engineering. It defines reliability as the probability that a product will perform without failure under specified conditions for a given time period. Metrics for reliability include mean time between failures (MTBF) for repairable items and mean time to failure (MTTF) for non-repairable items. Durability relates to a component's ability to withstand degradation over time. Objectives of reliability engineering are to prevent failures, identify and correct causes of failures, and develop methods to estimate reliability. The costs of non-reliability and benefits of reliability are discussed. Reasons for teaching reliability engineering include complex modern systems and traditional engineering education's focus on how products work rather than how they

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Neuky Els
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BTH 780

Reliability Engineering

Reliability Engineering: An Introduction


(Part B) LectureMaterial#2

Lecturer: Prof. VSS Yadavalli


Dr. MK Ayomoh
What is Reliability?
 Reliability is the probability that a product/system/item will perform a given
task without failure under certain specified conditions for a specific period of
time.

 The following metrics can be deduced from reliability related studies:


• mean number of failures in a given time
• mean time between failures (MTBF) repairable items or
• mean time to fail (MTTF) for Non-repairable items

 Reliability differs from Quality control in that it is “time dependent” i.e


an interval problem while Quality control is a point problem.
Durability as a Component of Reliability
 Durability is a particular aspect of reliability that relates to the ability of an
item/component/system to withstand the effects of time dependent
destructive mechanisms such as fatigue, wear, corrosion etc
 Durability is usually expressed as a minimum time before the occurrence
of wear out failures. Durability
 In repairable systems, it often characterizes the ability of the product to
function after repairs
Prioritized Objectives of Reliability
 To apply engineering knowledge and specialist techniques to prevent
or to reduce the likelihood or frequency of failures.
 To identify and correct the causes of failures that do occur despite the
efforts to prevent them.
 To determine ways of coping with failures that do occur despite the
efforts to prevent them.
 To apply methods for estimating the likely reliability of new designs
and for analysing reliability data.

Objectives are prioritised to minimize cost and generate reliable


products.
Cost of Non-Reliability
Under Warranty
 Manufacturers often suffer high costs of failure
 Customers suffer so much inconvenience

After Warranty Period


 Manufacturers suffer high cost of poor/bad reputation
 Customers suffer from untimely loss of cash, inconvenience etc
Cost of Reliability
Under Warranty
 Financial Investment
 Time/effort committed to research on product/system/component
etc

Benefit of Reliability
 Manufacturers enjoy a long term of product durability
 Customers good will/reputation and brand name
Why Teach Reliability Engineering?
 Engineering systems are becoming more and more complex
due to:
• Application of automation
• Embedded technology
• Software and hardware interfaces
• Application of high technology
• Multiple Functionalities
• Miniaturization
• Multidisciplinary etc
Why Teach Reliability Engineering? Contd….
 Engineering education is traditionally concerned with
teaching how manufactured products work and less of:
• how products fail,
• the effects of failure and
• aspects of design, manufacture, maintenance and operations
which affect the likelihood of failure
Why Teach Reliability Engineering? Contd….
 Less attention is paid to the “laws of chance” i.e. variability
of product behaviour over time in respect of their:
• material make-up,
• processes and
• human factors in production and use.
Why Teach Reliability Engineering?
 Risk associated with product development are premised on:
 Competition
 Pressure of scheduling and deadlines
 Cost of failures
 Rapid evolution of new materials
 Methods and complex systems
 Need to reduce product costs
 Safety considerations amongst others
Failure of Engineering Systems
 Failure of a system or a component is the inability of such a
system or component to deliver its intended function
satisfactorily.

 Failures may be either partial or complete e.g. a 2HP motor has


completely failed if it does not produce any power. However, if it
produces some power (say 1HP) then the motor has failed
partially.
Failure of Engineering Systems Contd….
 There are other cases of failure in which the physical failure of a
component is considered a success. E.g. consider the case of a
protective fuse wire. If the fuse wire burns (physically destroyed)
when there is an overload, we say that it is a success. In other words,
a fuse has failed if it does not burn in a situation of overload.
Failure of Engineering Systems Contd….
 Failure can also be multimodal e.g. a mechanical valve failing to
close, open and stop leakage.
 Hence, it is essential for any reliability activity to start with a clear
definition of failures preferably in quantitative terms to avoid any
confusion at the later stage
Why Do Engineering Products Fail?
 Poor Design due to oversight in spec, wrong material, wrong
dimensions, and tolerances, software coding,
 Overstressed system due to voltage, current
 Variations between product strength and loading
 Wear out due to material fatigue, corrosion, wear between surfaces
of moving parts etc
 Failure due to time-dependent mechanisms such as battery run-
down, controller clock failure etc
Why Do Engineering Products Fail?.....Contd
 Improper testing: Poor or incomplete testing process; Testing outside
actual operational environment
 Improper Installation: Poor installation
 Others include but not limited to: Incorrect Manufacturing, Poor
Maintenance Schedule, Magnetic Interference, Packaging, Shipping,
Transportation related problems, Human error etc
Failure of Systems
 There are three basic ways in which the pattern of failure
changes over time. These are categorized into varying
decay levels that are either:
• decreasing,
• constant or
• increasing with time.
The Development of Reliability Engineering

Externally induced
failures

Failure of weak items


Bathtub curve for specific items
Non-Repairable Systems
Mean time to Failure (MTTF): This term is often used with systems/
components or items that can fail only once prior to their disposal. Such
items are non-repairable.
Repairable Systems
Mean Time to Repair (MTTR):The average duration of time it takes to
fix or repair a system from its most recent breakdown. It is also
associated with repairable systems.

Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF): This is the average time interval
between any two successful failures for a particular system/component.
This term is used to characterise items/systems that can be repaired after
a failure or breakdown is recorded.

MTBF
Availability A(t) 
MTBF  MTTR
Repairable Systems
Availability: It is the probability that a system would be ready or
available to performance a particular task in a satisfactory manner. This
metrics is affected by the rate of occurrence of failure and often
expressed as a function of reliability and maintainability.

MTBF
Availability A(t) 
MTBF  MTTR
Repairable Systems
Maintainability is a measure of the ease with which a product
can be maintained: Also, it can be defined as the probability of
performing a successful repair or servicing action within a given
time. In other words, maintainability measures the ease and
speed with which a system can be restored to operational status
after a downtime.
Repairable Systems
For example, if it is said that a particular component has a 90%
maintainability for one hour, this means that there is a 90%
probability that the component will be repaired within an hour.

When you combine system maintainability analysis with system


reliability analysis, many useful results concerning the overall
performance (availability, uptime, reduced downtime, etc.) can be
obtained
Repairable Systems
Some attributes of Maintainability includes:
 correct defects or their cause,
 repair or replace faulty or worn-out components without having
to replace still working parts,
 prevent unexpected working condition,
 maximize a product's useful life,
 maximize efficiency, reliability, and safety,
 cope with a changed environment amongst others.
Down Time

a1hrs a2hrs a3hrs a4hrs a5hrs a6hrs

b1hrs b2hrs b3hrs b4hrs b5 hrs b6hrs b7hrs        


Operating Time

System Operational Cycle‐169 Hours

Repair Actions

A case of a repairable system [in-between repairs]


Down Time

a1hrs a2hrs a3hrs a4hrs a5hrs a6hrs

b1hrs b2hrs b3hrs b4hrs b5 hrs b6hrs b7hrs        


Operating Time

System Operational Cycle‐169 Hours

Maintenance Actions

A case of a repairable system [in-between maintenance]


Non-Repairable/Repairable Systems
Hazard Rate: Hazard rate is defined as the ratio of failure density function
to the survival function (reliability). For, the density function of the time to
failure, f(t), and the reliability function, R(t), the hazard rate function for
any time, t, can be expressed as:
f(t)
h(t) 
R(t)

Failure Rate: Rate of occurrence of failure can be expressed as:


λ  (MTBF)1
Non-Repairable/Repairable Systems
Mixed Nature of Systems Failure Mode
 Sometimes an item may be considered as:
• both repairable and non-repairable. An example is a missile
which is considered to be a repairable system while in store and
subject to schedule test.
• However, it is considered a non-repairable system once it is
launched or fired.
• At some level, repairable systems are composed of non-
repairable parts
End
Next Topic:
Reliability Mathematics: Probability, Discrete and Continuous
Distribution Functions

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