An important characteristic of all systems is availability. Availability is the probability that a system or piece of equipment will operate in a prescribed manner when used under specified conditions. It is primarily a design dependent parameter.
Availability derives from a systems reliability and maintainability. Reliability is the probability that a system will operate for a specified time under specified operating conditions. It is commonly measured by the mean-time-between-failure (MTBF). Maintainability is the ability of a system to be maintained. For this report, maintainability is measured by the mean maintenance down time (MDT).
The MDT is a function of several variables, including the mean-time-to-repair (MTIR) and Logistics Delay Time (LDT). MTIR is the time that active maintenance is being performed. The LDT is the time delay due to spare part availability, transportation, repair facility availability, traveling to the location of the malfunction, etc. LDT is a major portion of the MDT.
In order to meet a requirement of improved system availability, the MTBF and/or the MDT must be improved. Decreasing the distance between the repair organization and the location of the failure may have a significant impact on LDT, assuming that the system's LDT is positively correlated to the distance traveled. An improvement in the LDT corresponds to an improvement in the MDT, hence the availability. For a situation where the repair function (referred to as the repair unit) travels to the location of the failed component, the deployment location may have a critical impact on a system's availability.
In a system where the operating components are located over a wide area and the repair organization must travel to the component to effect a repair, there are numerous ways to deploy the servicing units. The systems maintenance concept addresses this issue. The deployment of the repair units is the central focus of this report. / Master of Science
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/45286 |
| Date | 24 October 2009 |
| Creators | Weissmann, Eric |
| Contributors | Nachlas, Joel A., Systems Engineering, Fabrycky, Wolter J., Clayton, Edward R., Blanchard, Benjamin S. Jr. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Master's project |
| Format | BTD, application/pdf |
| Relation | LD5655.V851_1994.W457.pdf |
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