Two-interdependent-performance multi-state system: Definitions and reliability evaluation

• Published in: Reliability engineering & system safety Vol. 199; pp. 106883 - 9
• Main Authors: Shao, Changzheng, Ding, Yi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Barking Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2020; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Cogeneration; Electric power; Index terms—multi-state system; Reliability analysis; Reliability engineering; Reliability evaluation; Systems analysis; Two-interdependent-performance; Universal generating function; Universal generating function; Index terms—multi-state system; Reliability evaluation; Two-interdependent-performance
• ISSN: 0951-8320; 1879-0836
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ress.2020.106883

•Multi-state system model is extended to the case where systems require two interdependent performance variables.•The two interdependent performances multi-state system (TIP-MSS) model is developed.•The performance rate of each state is represented by a performance trade-off curve.•The TIP universal generating function (TIP-UGF) is developed to evaluate the reliability of the TIP-MSS. Many engineering systems are designed to complete two tasks simultaneously and therefore need to consider two interdependent performance measures. For example, a combined heat and power (CHP) system requires two interdependent performance variables of heat power and electric power to measure its reliability. The operation of such a two-interdependent-performance multi-state system (TIP-MSS) is usually constrained by a two-dimension feasible operating region (FOR) specific to the state. Hence, the performance rate of the TIP-MSS system in each state should be represented by the upper boundary of the FOR corresponding to the concept of “capacity” in the single-performance MSS model. Considering the interdependence between the performance variables, the concept and definitions of the TIP-MSS are proposed. An object, i.e., the performance trade-off curve, is utilized to represent the performance rates. The universal generating function (UGF) method is extended to represent the performance distribution of a TIP-MSS. Moreover, different composition operators are defined for analyzing the reliability of TIP-MSS with parallel/series structures. The availability criterion based on the TIP-UGF method is also proposed. Finally, the proposed models and methods are illustrated by two numerical examples.