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5.6 Reliability of complex systems
The mechatronic module is a complex system consisting of many different
elements, interconnected in various ways. Therefore, the reliability calculation
of the MM is carried out taking into account the reliability of its constituent
elements and the scheme of their connection.
When the independent elements are connected in series (Fig. 5.2), the
failure of one element results in the failure of the entire system.
Figure 5.2
The probability of failure-free operation of the system with a successive
combination of elements is equal to the product of the probabilities of failure-
free operation of its individual elements:
Where
P
i
(x)
is the probability of the absence of sudden failures;
If
Then
Usually the probability of failure-free operation of the elements is quite
high. Therefore, expressing
P
i
(t)
= 1 –
Q
i
(t)
and substituting in the formula
(17.1), after transformations and discarding products of small quantities, we get:
When
Will have:
Reliability of complex systems with serial connection of elements is low. For
example, with the number of elements of the system
n
= 10 with the probability
249
of failure-free operation of each element
P(t)
= 0.9 (as in rolling bearings), the
overall probability of failure-free operation of the system is:
When the independent elements are connected in parallel (Figure 5.3), the
failure of the system occurs when all elements that are switched on in parallel
fail.
Figure 5.3
In this case, the probability of failure-free operation is equal [25,26]:
If
Then
With the same data as in the example for serial connection of the elements,
the probability of failure-free operation with parallel connection of the elements
is:
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