New Models for Maintenance of Series and Parallel Systems

This paper develops new models for maintenance of multi-component series and parallel systems with inspection, preventive maintenance(pm), and repair; and subject to deterioration with use and stochastic failure. Use of 3-state models makes it possible to consider wear and pm of components. The 3-state model for a component is reduced to an equivalent 2-state model. By combining 2-state models, multicomponent systems are analysed. The error introduced by using equivalent models for the system is below 0.7% for a typical example. A case study of an electrical power system illustrates the application of the technique. Details are available in a separately available Supplement.