Replacement and inspection policies for products with random life cycle

• Published in: Reliability engineering & system safety Vol. 95; no. 3; pp. 161 - 165
• Main Authors: Young Yun, Won, Nakagawa, Toshio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Exact sciences and technology; Inspection policy; Maintenance; Minimal repair; Operational research and scientific management; Operational research. Management science; Random life cycle; Reliability theory. Replacement problems; Inspection policy; Maintenance; Random life cycle; Minimal repair; Replacement problem; Optimal policy; Rupture; Maintenance cost; Replacement; Failures; Life cycle; Quality control; Repair; Random variable; Age; Monitoring
• ISSN: 0951-8320; 1879-0836
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ress.2009.09.003

In this paper, we consider maintenance policies for products in which the economical life cycle of products is a random variable. First, we study a periodic replacement policy with minimal repair. The system is minimally repaired at failure and is replaced by new one at age T (periodic replacement policy with minimal repair of Barlow and Hunter [1]). The expected present value of total maintenance cost of products with random life cycle is obtained and the optimal replacement interval minimizing the cost is found. Second, we consider an inspection policy for products with random life cycle to detect the system failure. The expected total cost is obtained and the optimal inspection interval is found. Numerical examples are also included.