Imperfect preventive maintenance for numerical control machine tools with log-linear virtual age process

Based on the log-linear virtual age process, an imperfect preventive maintenance policy for numerical control(NC)machine tools with random maintenance quality is proposed. The proposed model is a combination of the Kijima type virtual age model and the failure intensity adjustment model. Maintenance intervals of the proposed hybrid model are derived when the failure intensity increase factor and the restoration factor are both random variables with uniform distribution. The optimal maintenance policy in infinite time horizon is presented. A numerical example is given when the failures of NC machine tools are described by the log-linear process. Finally, a discussion is presented to show how the optimal results depend on the different cost parameters.

Reliability modelling based on dependent two-stage virtual age processes

This paper proposes reliability and maintenance models for systems suffering random shocks arriving according to a non-homogeneous Poisson process.The system degradation process include two stages:from the installation of a new system to an initial point of a defect(normal stage),and then from that point to failure(defective stage),following the delay time concept.By employing the virtual age method,the impact of external shocks on the system degradation process is characterized by random virtual age increment in the two stages,resulting in the corresponding two-stage virtual age process.When operating in the defective state,the system becomes more susceptible to fatigue and suffers from a greater aging rate.Replacement is carried out either on failure or on the detection of a defective state at periodic or opportunistic inspections.This paper evaluates system reliability performance and investigates the optimal opportunistic maintenance policy.A case study on a cooling system is given to verify the obtained results.