Worksheet 3

Systems with reliability structure series-parallel

Global redundancy. Comparative analysis considering the reliability of a system with

active or passive backup unit

We consider a module with the average fault rate that includes an identical backup module
which can be active or passive . When the system is damaged the replacement is
made without incident.

Evaluate the redundancy efficiency in both cases with active or passive backup module.

For the non-redundant system that does not include the backup unit the reliability function is:

and the failure probability is:

, = 1−

Whether the backup unit is active, for computing the redundant system reliability we apply
the rule used for the parallel model:

=1− =1− 1− =1− 1−2 + = 2− ;

Taking into account that = then:

= 2−

For the passive spare unit: = + = 1+ ≥ .

The mean time between failures is:

" %
= !# $ which implies that = . Note that & represents the usage time
interval of the system.
%.(
For the active spare unit the = and for the passive spare unit = .

Now, we present the way the formulas for were deduced:

R1

R2

) = 1− % 1−
 ) =1 ) 1 1 % 1 % % ∙

If % then ) 2 and ) 2 2
+ + +
2 1 3 1.5
* * 2 *
# # # 2 2
+ + +
1 1 2
* * *
# # #

Compare
ompare the graphics for the non-redundant
non and
nd the one with the active backup unit and the
one with passive backup unit.

10 ( C %

D 22 years.

2
22.8 L MNO

Figure 1. Variation of , and

The graph from figure 1 shows that when the backup unit is used the reliability of the system
is significantly increased especially when the backup unit is passive.Thus: .

We check experimentally if the mean time between failures equals the analytical value. For
calculation of the integral using numerical integration we used the trapezoid method.
"
The average of operation time is mean time between failures: !# .

3
We choose the interval for computation of the MTBF: E0, F.

-.)/ ,, -.)/ ,,GHI -.)/ ,,RHI

, ; ;
0123( 0123( 0
0123(

Table 1. Numerical approach for computation of .

MTBF (years) Analytic value Obtained value using
numerical integration
Non-redundant system 11.42 11.41
 System with ASU 17.12 17.10
System with PSU 23.83 22.74

NM[\ , /24/365

The redundancy efficiency is expressed using the relation:

1−
gh
1− ,

Table 2. The reliability and efficiency for = 10 ( ℎ %, = 1,2,5,10 L MNO.

T(years) R RABU RPSU EfASU EfPSU
1 0.9161 0.9930 0.8964 11.9228 23.1693
2 0.8393 0.9742 0.9863 6.2224 11.7587
5 0.6453 0.8742 0.9280 2.8195 4.9246
10 0.4164 0.6595 0.7813 1.7136 2.6677

Table 3. The reliability and efficiency for = 10 ( ℎ %, = 1,2,5,10 L MNO.

T(years) R RASU RPSU EfASU EfPSU
1 0.9913 0.9999 0.99996 114.6559 228.6443
2 0.9826 0.9997 0.9998 57.5790 114.48
5 0.9571 0.9982 0.9990 23.3347 45.99
10 0.9161 0.9930 0.99638 11.9228 23.16

Observation:

The redundancy efficiency is higher when the reliability of the non-redundant system is
higher.

Problem 2.

The system for the temperature control in a lent process includes mainly a microcontroller
(µC) an analog to digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analogue converter (DAC)

ma Slow process ca

ADC DAC

μController

Figure 2. The structure of a control system

The variable nM is the measured temperature and the analogue command oM is used for
regulating the temperature. For increasing of the reliability and safety of the control system
we propose a redundant structure with 2 ADC and 2 DAC as shown in figure 3.

ma Slow process ca
SWITCH
ANALOGUE
MUX

ADC ADC DAC DAC

μController

Figure 3. The schematic of the control system with redundant structure

By connecting the DACs outputs at the ADC inputs we can verify permanently the conversion
using the microcontroller. The controlled process being slow, between 2 consecutive sampling
of the nM there is plenty of time to test the switches. For this reason we used an analogue
multiplexer. A damaged converter is identified and isolated. The control system with the
redundant structure tolerates the failure of an ADC and of a DAC. Let’s analyze the reliability
of this redundant system.

For fulfilling this goal we use pq , rq , r q the failure rate for the three components. For
the non-redundant system the series reliability model is:

input output
μController ADC DAC
Figure 4. The reliability model for the non-redundant system

The system operates if a signal can propagate from input to output.

vw ∙ ∙ = vw y Gxw y xGw ·
tu , pq rq r q
Gxw xGw

For the redundant version, the reliability model type series-parallel is shown in figure 5:
input
μController ADC DAC
output

ADC DAC

Figure 5. The reliability model for the redundant system

 , pq rq 2− rq r q 2− r q
= pq rq r q 2− rq 2− r q
= tu , 2− rq 2− r q ≥ pq

Observation:

In a preliminary approximation we do not take into account the analogue multiplexer and the
switch which suppose that they are ideal.

Homework:

1) Compute the reliability function for the following series parallel structures:

R1 R2

a
R3 R4

R1 R2

b R3 R4

R2

R1
c
R3

2) What of the structures from a) and b) has a higher reliability?

Solution:

1)

a) % (2 − )

b) ( % + 2 0) −( % 2 0)

c) [( % + 2) −( % 2 )][( + 0) − 0]

2) b > a