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Reliability Class

The document defines reliability and discusses its key aspects. Reliability is the probability that a system will perform as intended for a given period. The document outlines reliability measures like MTBF and discusses how reliability can be improved through design and reduces failures over time.

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Vishal Meena
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15 views

Reliability Class

The document defines reliability and discusses its key aspects. Reliability is the probability that a system will perform as intended for a given period. The document outlines reliability measures like MTBF and discusses how reliability can be improved through design and reduces failures over time.

Uploaded by

Vishal Meena
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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R eliability

Reliability Defined

• Reliability is "quality changing over time" or A motion

picture instead of a snapshot


Reliability Defined

• Reliability is a measure of the result of the quality of

the product over the long run. Reliability terminates

with a failure—i.e, unreliability occurs…

• Business enterprises observe the high cost of

unreliability. The high cost of unreliability motivates an

engineering solution to control and reduce costs.


Reliability Defined

• Reliability is an engineering discipline for applying

scientific know-how to a component, assembly, plant,

or process…

• so it will perform its intended function, without failure,

for the required time duration when installed and

operated correctly in a specified environment.


Reliability Defined

• MIL-STD-721C Definitions of Terms for Reliability and

Maintainability gives the following definition for

reliability…

• Reliability is the probability than an item can perform

its intended function without failure for a specified

interval under stated conditions.


Reliability Defined

This definition provides the following four aspects of reliability:


1. Reliability is a probability based concept; the numerical
value of the reliability is between 0 and 1
2. The functional performance of the product has to meet
certain stipulations and a functional definition of failure is
needed. For example, a failure means different things to the
user and to the repair person
3. It implies successful operation over a certain period of time…
4. Operating or environmental conditions under which product
use takes place are specified
Designing for Reliability

Reliability does not just happen. It requires that the


following three key elements be in place
• A commitment from top management to ensuring
reliability
• A reliability policy (that goes hand-in-hand with a
Quality Policy)…
• A philosophy that designs reliability in at an early
stage
Ways to Improve Reliability

 Use proven designs


 Use the simplest possible designs
 Use proven components that have undergone
reliability component testing
 Use redundant parts in high risk areas. Placing
two components in parallel will reduce the overall
probability of failure
 Always design fail safe…
 Specify and use proven manufacturing methods
Measures of Reliability

Reliability is the probability that a system will


still be functioning at time t.
Number surviving at t
R (t ) 
Number existing at t  0

This can also be expressed as “the cumulative


distribution of failure” …

Cummulativ e number of failure at t


F (t ) 1  R(t ) 
Number existing at t  0
Measures of Reliability

These two measures are the mirror image of each other


(Refer Figure below). The reliability will start at 1 and decay
to approach 0 over time…

The cumulative distribution of failure will start at 0 (no


failures) and approach 1 as all the items fail over time.

The slope of the reliability curve at any time t is the failure


rate at that point in time. These measures give the overall
reliability or failure at time t
Measures of Reliability
Bath Tub Curve

Most products go through three distinct phases from


product inception to wear out. Figure below shows a
typical life cycle curve for which the failure rate is plotted as
function of time...
Bath Tub Curve

Infancy/Green/Debugging/Burn-in-period:

Many components fail very soon after they are put into
service. Failures within this period are caused by poor
design that cause an item to be legitimately bad. These are
called infant mortality failures and the failure rate in this
period is relatively high. Good system vendors will perform
an operation called "burn in" where they put together and
test a system for several days to try to weed out these types
of problems so the customer doesn't see them.
Bath Tub Curve

Chance failure / Normal Operating Life:


If a component does not fail within its infancy, it will
generally tend to remain trouble-free over its operating
lifetime. The failure rate during this period is typically quite
low. This phase, in which the failure rate is constant,
typically represents the useful life of the product.
Bath Tub Curve

Wear out /Ageing:


After a component reaches a certain age, it enters the
period where it begins to wear out, and failures start to
increase. The period where failures start to increase is
called the wear out phase of component life.
Reliability Determination

In the adult or mature phase the failure rate of a component


or system is constant. Under such conditions the time to
failure follows an exponential law, and the probability
density function of exponential distribution is as given
below:
 t Where λ denotes the failure rate.
f (t )  e

The Mean time to failure MTTF for the exponential


distribution is…

MTTF  1 / 
Reliability Determination

If the failure rate is constant, the MTTF is the reciprocal


of the failure rate.

MTTF  1 / 

For repairable system it is also equal to MTBF.


Reliability Determination

The reliability at time t, R(t), is the probability of the


product lasting up to at least time t.

t
R (t )  1  F (t )  1   e dt  e
 t  t
0
Reliability Determination-Example

Assume we have an automobile that is operating in its


mature phase and has the following failure history:
Time to failure (hours): 100 800 1280 2600

The MTBF is given by: [100+800+1280+2600] / 4


= 1195 hours/failure

This gives a constant failure rate of: λ =1/1195 =


0.000836 failures/hour.
Reliability Determination-Example

What reliability can be expected from the automobile


after 40, 200, 1000, and 5000 hours?
λ =1/1195 = 0.000836 failures/hour.
t
R (t )  1  F (t )  1   e dt  e
 t  t
0

0.000836 x 40
R(40)  e  0.97  97%

t-hours 40 200 1000 5000


Reliability 97% 84.6% 43.4% 1.5%
Reliability Determination-Example

Assume a minimum reliability of 0.9 can be accepted


from the automobile, at what point would a service be
required?
λ =1/1195 = 0.000836 failures/hour.
ln R (t )
t

ln(0.90)
t  126 hours
 0.000836

Thus, the automobile needs servicing every 126 hours to keep


a minimum reliability of 0.9
System Reliability

Series System: When components are in series and each


component has a reliability Ri. If one component fails,
the system fails.

A R1 R2 R3 B

The overall reliability of a series system shown above


is:
RAB = R1 x R2 x R3
If R1 = R2 = R3 = 0.95
RAB = R1 x R2 x R3 = 0.95 x 0.95 x 0.95 = 0.86
Rtotal is always < than R1 or R2 or R3
System Reliability
Parallel System: When components are in parallel and
each component has a reliability Ri. If one component
fails, the system does not fail.
R1

A B

R2

RAB = 1 - probability (1 & 2 both fail)


The probability of 1 failing is = (1 - R1)
The probability of 2 failing is = (1 - R2)
Overall reliability is RAB =1 - (1 - R1) (1 - R2)
If R1 = 0.9 and R2 =0.8
RAB =1 - (1 - 0.9) (1 - 0.8) = 0.98
RTotal is always > than R1 or R2

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