Use of operational data in reliability estimation

[pinky]

if i don't have the design data of a component/system, can i use the operational data to determine the reliability indices?
if so, what type of data should i collect from the field(ex: a power plant)
thank you

[tarik]

Yes you can rely on operational data. You can read the following material to learn more about data and data collection. http://www.weibull.com/Articles/RelIntro/Field_Data.htm, http://www.weibull.com/Articles/RelIntro/Data_Collection.htm.

[pinky]

thank you very much Mr.tarik
can u suggest me some references/material regarding the the reliability estimation for thermal power plants?

[tarik]

I don't have a reference regarding thermal power plants. If you have enough test data or operational data, then you pretty much have what you need to perform that type of analysis. Although you might find some useful material that describes the failure mechanisms of thermal power plants, various failure modes, ways of avoiding failures and improving reliability ...etc, you need to remember that no one knows your products better then you and your company do. The data you have is the best indication of your products’ reliability. It reflects the particularities of your products, your customers and applications.

The weibull.com website has lots of useful material for reliability estimation that can be applied for any type of products. You could start by the Reliability Program Blueprint reference book then move to the eTextbooks and case studies and examples.

[pinky]

Thank you very much Mr Tarik. i ve gone through the Reliability Program Blueprint reference book and as and when i get a doubt i refer the e textbooks. But most of that is in design reliability point of view. i am doing a research in which i need to consider the reliability of systems in operational point of view. i am not very much sure if i am correct in my views. in most of the literature i could find isee that the emphasis was on design reliability.can you guide me regarding the same.

[tarik]

It doesn’t matter if your data is from in-house testing or operational data, the same life data estimation methodologies apply in both cases. If you have a question in a particular area of reliability analysis, let us know.

[usara_reliable]

you have the field data, just formulate in particular distibution. Design for the reliability clearly indicate that if any fault occur due to design problem which might avoid during initial phase. This term actually know as inherent reliability.

Operational data reflect indirectly your design data accuracy. If you find any particular failure mode during operation then you have to just target the way to avoid failure and correlate with design to get inherent reliability.

Hope this will help you.