An approximate method for non-repairable systems based on oppurtunistic replacement policy

Abstract

Click on the DOI link to access this article at the publisher's website (may not be free)An opportunistic replacement policy for a multi-unit system with various failure rates is developed. The objective function is to minimize the total maintenance cost due to preventive and failure replacement. Failure rate is used as replacement criterion for each unit. Units are replaced at failure or at a failure rate limit, L, whichever occurs first. A unit is also replaced at replacement time of another unit if its failure rate falls in a preventive replacement interval, (L-u, L). A solution method to obtain the value of and u is presented. The solution procedure is demonstrated through an algorithm followed by a numerical example. © 1991