Reliability equivalence of independent and non-identical components series systems

This paper is devoted to obtain the reliability equivalence factors of n independent and non-identical components series system. The lifetime of each component is assumed to be exponentially distributed random variable. The results introduced by Råde [Råde L. Reliability equivalence. Microelectronics and Reliability 1993a;33:323–325; Råde L, Reliability survival equivalence. Microelectronics and Reliability 1993b;33:881–894.] can be obtained as special cases from this work when n=1,2 and assuming the components are identical.