T

N N +1
Z11 Z12 LL Z1η1 Z 1N Z N2 LL Z ηNN Z 1N +1 Z N2 +1 LL Z NM+1
L
X1 Y1 XN YN X N +1

(a) The effective age of the system is reached at working state.

T
N
Z11 Z12 LL Z1η1 Z 21 Z 22 LL Z 2η2 Z 1N Z N2 LL Z ηNN
L
X1 Y1 X2 Y2 XN

(b) The effective age of the system is reached at waiting state for repair.
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO LIBRARIES At 05:39 12 February 2018 (PT)

T
N
Z11 Z12 LL Z1η1 Z 21 Z 22 LL Z 2η2 Z 1N Z N2 LL Z ηNN
L
X1 Y1 X2 Y2 XN YN

(c) The effective age of the system is reached at being repaired state.

Fig. 1 A possible progressive figure of the system

Let T1 be the time before the first replacement, Tn be the time interval between the

( n − 1 )th and n th replacement, for n = 2,3,L . The process {Tn , n = 1, 2,L} can form a

renewal process. The time interval between two adjacent replacements is the length for a
replacement cycle.

Lemma 1. The probability of η n is given by

+∞
P(η n = m) = ∫ [S m -1 (t ) − S m (t )]dF (a n -1t ) ， m = 1, 2,L , n = 1, 2,L , N
0

and

+∞ ∞
Eη n = ∫ [∑ S m (t )]dF ( a n -1t ) ，where S m (t ) is the cumulative distribution function of
0
m =1

∑Z
i =1
i
n . (Jia, 2009)

Denote Z n as the total vacation time of the repairman during the n th cycle of the

system, for n = 2,3,L . Then it is given by