OPTIMIZED RELIABILITY FRAMEWORK FOR SERIES-PARALLEL SYSTEMS: STRATEGIC REDUNDANCY ALLOCATION USING HAM AND IPM SOLUTIONS

When it comes to reliability engineering, the main goal is to make sure that systems and their parts always work as they should within a certain time limit and under certain conditions. Within the domain of reliability theory, system robustness is improved by strategically incorporating redundancy, while simultaneously accounting for constraints such as cost, mass, and spatial requirements in series-parallel architectures. This research focuses on examining how these constraints-specifically weight, volume, dimensional, and spatial factors-influence system reliability enhancement. The investigation is centered on spare parts utilized in a representative Automation Forum setup, where factors like cost, weight, and size are vital to sustaining effective functionality. Unlike electronic systems that may not emphasize these constraints, the Automation Forum includes crucial components such as compressors, condensers, and absorption towers, all of which require thorough reliability evaluation. To address this, the Lagrange multiplier method is employed to design and analyze an integrated redundant reliability model configured in a series-parallel structure. This approach yields continuous-valued outputs for essential variables including component count, individual and stage reliabilities, and total system reliability. To derive feasible and practical integer-based solutions, the study further implements heuristic strategies and integer programming. These techniques significantly enhance the precision and relevance of the reliability analysis conducted.