On Failure-Time Distributions for Systems of Dissimilar Units

Certain reliability problems of systems of dissimilar units with repair are described. The mean time to system failure is based on the relation of mean first passage times between states of the system. The failure-time distribution is obtained from an integral equation of the renewal type. The two approaches can be also applied to a system of dissimilar units under an overload. Finally, it is shown that these results include many earlier results as special cases.