Optimization of Spare Number for Series and Parallel Systems
An optimal model for determining minimum-cost spare number for systems with components connected in series and parallel is presented. The component availability with a certain number of spares is derived through Poisson process theory. Then the availability of series-parallel system is obtained with system reliability analysis method. Consequently, the optimization model is established to minimize the total spare cost of the system under the requirement of specified system availability. Genetic algorithms are applied to find the optimal amount of spares for each component and two illustrative examples are given.