Reliability and choice of measurement systems

BITS Pilani
Note to students

These slides should only be considered as supporting material. To have a

thorough understanding of the topic, these must be accompanied by
textbook, reference materials and lecture notes.

2 BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3, UGC Act

Introduction

• Accuracy (either static or dynamic) is one of the characteristics which must be considered
while choosing a measurement systems.
• However, reliability is another important characteristics which should also be considered
while choosing measurement systems.
• A more accurate but less reliable system (which frequently fails) is of very little importance
to industrial operations.
• Discussion on choosing most appropriate measurement system, for a given application, from
several competing possibilities.

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Fundamental principles of reliability

Probability, P
• If a large number of random, independent trials are made, then the probability of a particular
event occurring is given by the ratio,

𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑏𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡

𝑃=
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑠
Reliability, R
• Reliability can be defined as, “the probability that the element or system will operate to an
agreed level of performance, for a specified period, subject to specified environmental
conditions”.
• Reliability varies with time.

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Contd…

Unreliability F(t)
• This is ‘the probability that the element or system will fail to operate to an agreed level of
performance, for a specified period, subject to specified environmental conditions’. Since the
equipment has either failed or not failed, hence the sum of reliability and unreliability must
be unity, i.e.
𝑅 𝑡 +𝐹 𝑡 =1
• Unreliability also depends on time.

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Practical reliability definitions

• Since R(t) and F(t) are dependent on time, it is useful to have measures of reliability which
are independent of time.
• Two cases can be considered: in the first the items are non-repairable and in the second the
items are repairable.
Non-repairable items:
• Suppose, N individual items of a given non-repairable component are placed in service and,
• The times at which failures occur, are recorded during a test interval T.
• It is also assumed that all the items fail during T, and ith failure occurs at Ti (or up time)
Then,
𝒊=𝑵
𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝟏
𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝑴𝑻𝑻𝑭 = = ෍ 𝑻𝒊
𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝑵
𝒊=𝟏

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Contd…
𝒊=𝑵
𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝟏
𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝑴𝑻𝑻𝑭 = = ෍ 𝑻𝒊
𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝑵
𝒊=𝟏

𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝑵
𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 = 𝝀ത = = 𝑵
𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 σ𝒊=𝟏 𝑻𝒊

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Contd…
Say, there are N survivors at time t = 0,
(N-i) survivors at time Ti, and,
0 survivors, at time T,
Then, probability of survival i.e.,
Reliability (Ri) = (N-i)/N
𝒊=𝑵
𝟏
𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝑴𝑻𝑻𝑭 = ෍ 𝑻𝒊
𝑵
𝒊=𝟏
𝑜𝑟,
𝑀𝑇𝑇𝐹 = 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑣𝑒
∞
𝑜𝑟, 𝑀𝑇𝑇𝐹 = න 𝑅 𝑡 𝑑𝑡
0
If, 𝑁 → ∞

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Practical reliability definitions: Repairable
items
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑀𝐷𝑇 =
𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠

𝑗=𝑁𝐹
1
𝑀𝐷𝑇 = ෍ 𝑇𝐷𝑗
𝑁𝐹
𝑗=1
𝑗=𝑁𝐹

𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑢𝑝 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 = 𝑁𝑇 − ෍ 𝑇𝐷𝑗 = 𝑁𝑇 − 𝑁𝐹 × 𝑀𝐷𝑇

𝑗=1
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑢𝑝 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠(𝑀𝑇𝐵𝐹) =
𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠

𝑁𝑇 − 𝑁𝐹 × 𝑀𝐷𝑇
𝑀𝑇𝐵𝐹 =
𝑁𝐹

Failure pattern for N items of a repairable element

observed over a test interval T
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Contd…

𝑁𝐹
𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 (𝜆)ҧ =
𝑁𝑇 − 𝑁𝐹 × 𝑀𝐷𝑇

𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑢𝑝 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
𝐴𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑡𝑦 =
𝑇𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑙

𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑢𝑝 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
𝐴𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑡𝑦 =
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑢𝑝 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 + 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

𝑁𝐹 × 𝑀𝑇𝐵𝐹
𝐴𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑡𝑦 =
𝑁𝐹 × 𝑀𝑇𝐵𝐹 + 𝑁𝐹 × 𝑀𝐷𝑇

𝑴𝑻𝑩𝑭
𝑨𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒕𝒚 𝑨 =
𝑴𝑻𝑩𝑭 + 𝑴𝑫𝑻
Failure pattern for N items of a repairable element
observed over a test interval T
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Contd…

𝑴𝑻𝑩𝑭
𝑨𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒕𝒚 𝑨 =
𝑴𝑻𝑩𝑭 + 𝑴𝑫𝑻

𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

𝑈𝑛𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑡𝑦 =
𝑇𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑙

𝑴𝑫𝑻
𝑼𝒏𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒕𝒚 =
𝑴𝑻𝑩𝑭 + 𝑴𝑫𝑻

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 Instantaneous failure rate and its relation
to reliability
Suppose, n items of an element survive up to time t = ξ, and, Δ𝑛 items fail during
small time interval Δξ,
The probability of failure during interval Δξ is = Δ𝑛/𝑛.
Assuming no repair during Δ𝜁, corresponding instantaneous failure rate (or hazard rate),
Δ𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦
𝜆 𝜁 = =
𝑛 Δ𝜁 Δ𝜁
The unconditional probability Δ𝐹 that an item will fail during the interval Δ𝜁, can be given as,
Δ𝐹 = probability that item survives upto 𝜁 AND probability that item will fail between 𝜁 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝜁 + 𝛥𝜁
Δ𝐹 d𝐹
Δ𝐹 = 𝑅 𝜁 × 𝜆 𝜁 Δ𝜁 ⇒ =𝑅 𝜁 ×𝜆 𝜁 ⇒ =𝑅 𝜁 ×𝜆 𝜁
Δ𝜁 Δ𝜁
If, Δ𝜁 → 0

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Contd…
d𝐹
=𝑅 𝜁 ×𝜆 𝜁
d 𝜁

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Typical forms of failure rate function
• Early failures can occur due to design faults,
poor quality components, manufacturing faults,
installation errors, operator and maintenance
errors
• Useful region is characterized by low and
constant failure rate. Highly unpredictable
reasons cause failure in this region
• Wear out region is due to limited life span of
component of a measurement system.
A constant failure rate is often a
good approximation,

Typical variation in instantaneous failure rate (hazard

rate) during the lifetime of element – ‘bathtub curve’.
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Contd…

Reliability and unreliability with

constant failure rate model.

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Reliability of systems

Series Systems

Also,

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Reliability of systems

Parallel Systems
Assuming that the reliability of each element/system is independent of the
reliability of the other elements, then the probability that the overall system
fails is the probability that element/system 1 fails and the probability that 2 fails
and the probability that 3 fails, and so on...., then,

Where, FSYST is unreliability of overall system,

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Reliability of systems

𝑅𝑆𝑌𝑆𝑇 = 𝑅1 × 𝑅2 × 𝑅3

𝑅𝑆𝑌𝑆𝑇 = e−1.1𝑡 × e−0.1𝑡 × e−0.1𝑡 = 𝑒 −1.3𝑡

𝑅𝑆𝑌𝑆𝑇 0.5 = 𝑒 −1.3×0.5 = 0.478

𝐹𝑆𝑌𝑆𝑇 = 𝐹1 × 𝐹2 × 𝐹3

𝐹𝑆𝑌𝑆𝑇 = 𝐹 3 = 0.109

Though reliable but not recommended !

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Reliability of systems

Better approach for the temperature measurement system shown in last slide

𝑅𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙 = 0.795

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Design and maintenance for reliability

Following general principle must be observed,

• Element selection
• Environment
• Minimum complexity
• Redundancy

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Choice of measurement systems

• Say, there is a requirement of measuring volume flow rate of a clean liquid hydrocarbon,
range 0 to 100 m3h−1, in a 0.15 m (6 inch) diameter pipe.
• The first step is to draw up a specification for the required flow measurement system which
will include parameters such as measurement error, reliability, cost etc.

Possible configurations of flow measurement system

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Contd…

Comparison table for selection of flow measurement system

The data is not true and is only for illustration purpose

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 Total lifetime operating cost

The total lifetime operating costing (TLOC) of a measurement system is the total cost penalty,
incurred by the user, during the lifetime of the system.

CI – initial cost m – no. of preventive maintenance per year

CR – average material cost per repair
CL – repair labor cost per hour
CP – Process cost per hour
CM – Materials cost per service
TM – average maintenance time in hour
𝜆 – failure rate per year
T – system lifetime
C(E)– cost penalty function for steady state measurement errors
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Contd…

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Problem

• Use the data given in Table to decide which level measurement system should be purchased.
Assume a breakdown maintenance only strategy is practiced, each system has the same
measurement error, and there is a 10-year total lifetime.

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Solution…

𝑇𝐿𝑂𝐶 = 𝐶𝐼 + 𝐶𝑅 + 𝐶𝐿 + 𝐶𝑃 𝑇𝑅 𝜆𝑇
System 1:

𝑇𝐿𝑂𝐶 = 1000 + 20 + 10 + 100 × 8 × 2 × 10 = 19000

System 2:

𝑇𝐿𝑂𝐶 = 2000 + 15 + 10 + 100 × 12 × 1 × 10 = 15350

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