Suppose we want to estimate the mean duration of failure-proof operation of the apparatus provided all characteristics of the failure-proof operation of each of the elements are known. If we assume that the duration of failure-proof operation of each element t_(k) is fixed, then the calculation of time t of failure-proof operation of the whole unit presents no problems. For example, failure of anyone of the elements of the unit drawn in Fig-18 entails the failure of the whole unit, i.e.

t = Min[ t₍₁₎, t₍₂₎, t₍₃₎, t₍₄₎ ]

For the unit shown in Fig-19 where one of the elements has a stand-by element

t  = Min[ t₍₁₎, t₍₂₎, Max[ t₍₃₎, t₍₄₎ ], t₍₅₎ ]

since when one element, N₃ for example, will break down, the unit will continue functioning on the remaining element N₄

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Simulation

There are a bunch of ways we can arrive at this simulation. But before that, look at the above images from the textbook.

• Figure:18 shows four resistors connected in series. Let us define this connection as follows
  • R~R~R~R alternatively 1-1-1-1
• Figure:19 shows 5 resistors connected such that 3 and 4 are in parallel connected to the other ones that are in series
  • R~R~R|R~R alternatively 1-1-2-1
• Given that you understand this notation, we will run simulations for the following configurations
  • R~R~R~R alternatively 1-1-1-1
  • R|R~R~R~R alternatively 2-1-1-1
  • R|R~R|R~R~R alternatively 2-2-1-1
  • R|R~R|R~R|R~R alternatively 2-2-2-1
  • R|R~R|R~R|R~R|R alternatively 2-2-2-2
  • R|R|R~R|R~R|R~R|R alternatively 3-2-2-2
  • R|R|R~R|R|R~R|R~R|R alternatively 3-3-2-2
  • R|R|R~R|R|R~R|R|R~R|R alternatively 3-3-3-2
  • R|R|R~R|R|R~R|R|R~R|R|R alternatively 3-3-3-3
• Also note that the study here is nothing to do with the actual resistances of the devices but only the lifetimes
• All the resistors have same lifetime distribution which is exponential with a λ = 5
• All the plots below represent the same data but with different chart styles. The names of the chart styles in sequence are
  • Density
  • HistogramDensity
  • PointDensity
  • SmoothDensity
• Notice how the reliability increases as we increase the number of resistors that have a “backup parallel resistor attached to it”
  • which is further enhanced by the number of parallel resistors at each juntion

 

 

 

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Code

Column@Module[{plotData},
  plotData = Table[
    With[{var = #},
      Module[{
        figs = <|
          4 -> ({#[[1]], #[[2]], #[[3]], #[[4]]} &),
          5 -> ({Max[{#[[1]], #[[2]]}], #[[3]], #[[4]], #[[5]]} &),

          6 -> ({Max[{#[[1]], #[[2]]}],
            Max[{#[[3]], #[[4]]}], #[[5]], #[[6]]} &),

          7 -> ({Max[{#[[1]], #[[2]]}], Max[{#[[3]], #[[4]]}],
            Max[#[[5]], #[[6]]], #[[7]]} &),

          8 -> ({Max[{#[[1]], #[[2]]}], Max[{#[[3]], #[[4]]}],
            Max[#[[5]], #[[6]]], Max[#[[7]], #[[8]]]} &),

          9 -> ({Max[{#[[1]], #[[2]], #[[3]]}],
            Max[{#[[4]], #[[5]]}], Max[#[[6]], #[[7]]],
            Max[#[[8]], #[[9]]]} &),

          10 -> ({Max[{#[[1]], #[[2]], #[[3]]}],
            Max[{#[[4]], #[[5]], #[[6]]}], Max[#[[7]], #[[8]]],
            Max[#[[9]], #[[10]]]} &),

          11 -> ({Max[{#[[1]], #[[2]], #[[3]]}],
            Max[{#[[4]], #[[5]], #[[6]]}],
            Max[#[[7]], #[[8]], #[[9]]], Max[#[[10]], #[[11]]]} &),

          12 -> ({Max[{#[[1]], #[[2]], #[[3]]}],
            Max[{#[[4]], #[[5]], #[[6]]}],
            Max[#[[7]], #[[8]], #[[9]]],
            Max[#[[10]], #[[11]], #[[12]]]} &)
        |>,
        lifeTimes, simulation},

        lifeTimes =
            RandomVariate[ExponentialDistribution[5], {1, var}];
        lifeTimes = figs[var][#] & /@ lifeTimes;
        simulation = Min /@ lifeTimes;
        Mean@simulation]] & /@ Range[4, 12], 2000];

  DistributionChart[Transpose@plotData, ChartElementFunction -> #,
    ChartLabels ->
        Placed[Rotate[#,
          0 \[Pi]] & /@ (StringJoin[# <> "\n"] & /@ {"1-1-1-1",
          "  2-1-1-1", "2-2-1-1", "2-2-2-1", "2-2-2-2", "3-2-2-2",
          "3-3-2-2", "3-3-3-2", "3-3-3-3"}), Above],
    ImageSize -> 788,
    PlotLabel ->
        "Configurations and Lifetime Profiles"] & /@ {"SmoothDensity",
    "PointDensity", "Density", "HistogramDensity"}]

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End of the post 🙂

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