Performance and Reliability Combined: The 32ah Lithium Battery from Towson BatteryIn reliability analysis one can either consider a system which is in a binary state, that is, it is either perfectly functioning or totally failed. However, many systems (for example power systems) are capable of functioning under different intermediate states. This type of behaviour is called a multi-state system.
If a group of elements are arranged in series or parallel, the resultant reliability R(t) depends on the number and arrangement of the individual components. Moreover, the reliability of a parallel arrangement decreases with time faster than the reliability of a series arrangement. This is a problem which needs to be taken into account if guaranteed operation of complex objects over a certain period of time is required.
In this article a generalized reliability concept which is based on the traditional reliability functions and which also includes performance as a second dimension is presented. This new concept is called performance reliability and is illustrated using an interactive graphic program. This program enables an easy and quick understanding of this new concept. A new method for finding the performance function is proposed which combines workload and capacity models into one Markov-model.