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1 – 10 of over 2000
Article
Publication date: 28 April 2023

Daas Samia and Innal Fares

This study aims to improve the reliability of emergency safety barriers by using the subjective safety analysis based on evidential reasoning theory in order to develop on a…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to improve the reliability of emergency safety barriers by using the subjective safety analysis based on evidential reasoning theory in order to develop on a framework for optimizing the reliability of emergency safety barriers.

Design/methodology/approach

The emergency event tree analysis is combined with an interval type-2 fuzzy-set and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method. In order to the quantitative data is not available, this study based on interval type2 fuzzy set theory, trapezoidal fuzzy numbers describe the expert's imprecise uncertainty about the fuzzy failure probability of emergency safety barriers related to the liquefied petroleum gas storage prevent. Fuzzy fault tree analysis and fuzzy ordered weighted average aggregation are used to address uncertainties in emergency safety barrier reliability assessment. In addition, a critical analysis and some corrective actions are suggested to identify weak points in emergency safety barriers. Therefore, a framework decisions are proposed to optimize and improve safety barrier reliability. Decision-making in this framework uses evidential reasoning theory to identify corrective actions that can optimize reliability based on subjective safety analysis.

Findings

A real case study of a liquefied petroleum gas storage in Algeria is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. The results show that the proposed methodology provides the possibility to evaluate the values of the fuzzy failure probability of emergency safety barriers. In addition, the fuzzy failure probabilities using the fuzzy type-2 AHP method are the most reliable and accurate. As a result, the improved fault tree analysis can estimate uncertain expert opinion weights, identify and evaluate failure probability values for critical basic event. Therefore, suggestions for corrective measures to reduce the failure probability of the fire-fighting system are provided. The obtained results show that of the ten proposed corrective actions, the corrective action “use of periodic maintenance tests” prioritizes reliability, optimization and improvement of safety procedures.

Research limitations/implications

This study helps to determine the safest and most reliable corrective measures to improve the reliability of safety barriers. In addition, it also helps to protect people inside and outside the company from all kinds of major industrial accidents. Among the limitations of this study is that the cost of corrective actions is not taken into account.

Originality/value

Our contribution is to propose an integrated approach that uses interval type-2 fuzzy sets and AHP method and emergency event tree analysis to handle uncertainty in the failure probability assessment of emergency safety barriers. In addition, the integration of fault tree analysis and fuzzy ordered averaging aggregation helps to improve the reliability of the fire-fighting system and optimize the corrective actions that can improve the safety practices in liquefied petroleum gas storage tanks.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 41 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 November 2020

Komal

In recent years, the application of robots in different industrial sectors such as nuclear power generation, construction, automobile, firefighting and medicine, etc. is…

Abstract

Purpose

In recent years, the application of robots in different industrial sectors such as nuclear power generation, construction, automobile, firefighting and medicine, etc. is increasing day by day. In large industrial plants generally humans and robots work together to accomplish several tasks and lead to the problem of safety and reliability because any malfunction event of robots may cause human injury or even death. To access the reliability of a robot, sufficient amount of failure data is required which is sometimes very difficult to collect due to rare events of any robot failures. Also, different types of their failure pattern increase the difficulty which finally leads to the problem of uncertainty. To overcome these difficulties, this paper presents a case study by assessing fuzzy fault tree analysis (FFTA) to control robot-related accidents to provide safe working environment to human beings in any industrial plant.

Design/methodology/approach

Presented FFTA method uses different fuzzy membership functions to quantify different uncertainty factors and applies alpha-cut coupled weakest t-norm (Tω) based approximate fuzzy arithmetic operations to obtain fuzzy failure probability of robot-human interaction fault event which is the main contribution of the paper.

Findings

The result obtained from presented FFTA method is compared with other listing approaches. Critical basic events are also ranked using V-index for making suitable action plan to control robot-related accidents. Study indicates that the presented FFTA is a good alternative method to analyze fault in robot-human interaction for providing safe working environment in an industrial plant.

Originality/value

Existing fuzzy reliability assessment techniques designed for robots mainly use triangular fuzzy numbers (TFNs), triangle vague sets (TVS) or triangle intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFS) to quantify data uncertainty. Present study overcomes this shortcoming and generalizes the idea of fuzzy reliability assessment for robots by adopting different IFS to control robot-related accidents to provide safe working environment to human. This is the main contribution of the paper.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 38 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 May 2023

Rocky Khajuria and Komal

The main goal of this paper is to develop novel (weakest t-norm)-based fuzzy arithmetic operations to analyze the intuitionistic fuzzy reliability of Printed Circuit Board…

Abstract

Purpose

The main goal of this paper is to develop novel (weakest t-norm)-based fuzzy arithmetic operations to analyze the intuitionistic fuzzy reliability of Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) using fault tree.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper proposes a fuzzy fault tree analysis (FFTA) method for evaluating the intuitionistic fuzzy reliability of any nonrepairable system with uncertain information about failures of system components. This method uses a fault tree for modeling the failure phenomenon of the system, triangular intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (TIFNs) to determine data uncertainty, while novel arithmetic operations are adopted to determine the intuitionistic fuzzy reliability of a system under consideration. The proposed arithmetic operations employ (weakest t-norm) to minimize the accumulating phenomenon of fuzziness, whereas the weighted arithmetic mean is employed to determine the membership as well as nonmembership degrees of the intuitionistic fuzzy failure possibility of the nonrepairable system. The usefulness of the proposed method has been illustrated by inspecting the intuitionistic fuzzy failure possibility of the PCBA and comparing the results with five other existing FFTA methods.

Findings

The results show that the proposed FFTA method effectively reduces the accumulating phenomenon of fuzziness and provides optimized degrees of membership and nonmembership for computed intuitionistic fuzzy reliability of a nonrepairable system.

Originality/value

The paper introduces (weakest t-norm) and weighted arithmetic mean based operations for evaluating the intuitionistic fuzzy failure possibility of any nonrepairable system in an uncertain environment using a fault tree.

Details

Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, vol. 29 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2511

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 February 2019

Komal

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the fuzzy reliability of the compressor house unit (CHU) system in a coal fired thermal power plant under vague environment by reducing the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the fuzzy reliability of the compressor house unit (CHU) system in a coal fired thermal power plant under vague environment by reducing the accumulating phenomenon of fuzziness and accelerating the computation process. This paper uses different fuzzy membership functions to quantify uncertainty and access the system reliability in terms of different fuzzy reliability indices having symmetric shapes.

Design/methodology/approach

This study analyses the fuzzy reliability of the CHU system in a coal fired thermal power plant using Tω-based generalized fuzzy Lambda-Tau (TBGFLT) technique. This approach applies fault tree, Lambda-Tau method, different fuzzy membership functions and α-cut coupled Tω-based approximate arithmetic operations to compute various reliability parameters (such as failure rate, repair time, mean time between failures, expected number of failures, availability and reliability) of the system. The effectiveness of TBGFLT technique has been demonstrated by comparing the results with results obtained from four different existing techniques. Moreover, this paper applies the extended Tanaka et al. (1983) approach to rank the critical components of the system when different membership functions are used.

Findings

The adopted TBGFLT technique in the present study improves the shortcomings of the existing approaches by reducing the accumulating phenomenon of fuzziness, accelerating the computation process and getting symmetric shapes for computed reliability parameters when different membership functions are used to quantify data uncertainty.

Originality/value

In existing fuzzy reliability techniques which are developed for repairable systems either triangular fuzzy numbers, triangle vague sets or triangle intuitionistic fuzzy sets have been used for quantifying uncertainty. These approaches do not examine the systems for components with different membership functions. The present study is an effort in this direction and evaluates the fuzzy reliability of the CHU system in a coal fired thermal power plant for components with different membership functions. This is the main contribution of the paper.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 36 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 May 2018

Mina Moeinedini, Sadigh Raissi and Kaveh Khalili-Damghani

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is assumed as a commonly used solution in order to provide an integrated view of core business processes, including product planning…

Abstract

Purpose

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is assumed as a commonly used solution in order to provide an integrated view of core business processes, including product planning, manufacturing cost, delivery, marketing, sales, inventory management, shipping and payment. Selection and implementation of a suitable ERP solution are not assumed a trivial project because of the challenging nature of it, high costs, long-duration of installation and customization, as well as lack of successful benchmarking experiences. During the ERP projects, several risk factors threat the successful implementation of the project. These risk factors usually refer to different phases of the ERP projects including purchasing, pilot implementation, teaching, install, synchronizing, and movement from old systems toward new ones, initiation and utilization. These risk factors have dominant effects on each other. The purpose of this paper is to explore the hybrid reliability-based method is proposed to assess the risk factors of ERP solutions.

Design/methodology/approach

In this regard, the most important risk factors of ERP solutions are first determined. Then, the interactive relations of these factors are recognized using a graph based method, called interpretive structural modeling. The resultant network of relations between these factors initiates a new viewpoint toward the cause and effect relations among risk factors. Afterwards, a fuzzy fault tree analysis is proposed to calculate Failure Fuzzy Possibility (FFP) for the basic events of the fault tree leading to a quantitative evaluation of risk factors.

Findings

The whole proposed method is applied in a well-known Iranian foodservice distributor as a case study. The most impressive risk factors are identified, classified and prioritized. Moreover, the cause and effect diagram between the risk factors are identified. So, the ERP leader can plan a low-risk project and increase the chance of success.

Originality/value

According to the authors’ best knowledge, such approach was not reported before in the literature of ERP risk assessments.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 35 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 September 2010

S.P. Sharma, Dinesh Kumar and Komal

The purpose of this paper is to present a hybridized technique for analyzing the stochastic behavior of an industrial system. The feeding system of a paper mill situated in North…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a hybridized technique for analyzing the stochastic behavior of an industrial system. The feeding system of a paper mill situated in North India producing 200 tons of paper per day has been considered for analysis and efforts have been made to incorporate vague, ambiguous, imprecise and conflicting information quantified by fuzzy numbers.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, three important tools namely, fuzzy analysis, neural network and genetic algorithms (GAs), are used to built a hybridized and more realistic technique herein named as, neural network and GAs‐based Lambda‐Tau (NGABLT). The technique will facilitate the maintenance personnel in making a better decision. This technique has been demonstrated by computing some of the reliability indices of the considered system.

Findings

The results indicate that NGABLT technique reduces the gap between crisp and existing Lambda‐Tau results, i.e. it may be a more useful tool to assess the current system condition and suggests to improve the system reliability and availability.

Originality/value

The authors have suggested a hybridized technique for analyzing the stochastic behavior of the feeding system in a paper mill by computing fuzzy reliability indices.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 27 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2005

Bing Long, Zhengji Song and Xingwei Jiang

To improve the speed and precise of online monitoring and diagnosis for satellite using satellite telemetry data.Design/methodology/approach – In monitoring system, a fuzzy range…

Abstract

Purpose

To improve the speed and precise of online monitoring and diagnosis for satellite using satellite telemetry data.Design/methodology/approach – In monitoring system, a fuzzy range which gives the probability of alarm for telemetry channels using fuzzy reasoning is outlined. A failure confidence factor is presented to modify the traditional real‐time diagnosis algorithm based on multisignal model to describe the relative failure possibility for suspected components. According to the modified real‐time diagnosis algorithm based on multisignal model, it rapidly generates the states for all the components of the system such as good, bad, suspected and unknown. Then the failure probability for suspected components is obtained by Mamdani fuzzy reasoning algorithm.Findings – The experimental results reveal that the diagnosis system can not only improve diagnosis of speed but also can improve the diagnostic precision by giving failure probability for suspected fault components which may be potential failure components.Research limitations/implications – It requires the clear fault dependency relationship between components and tests.Practical implications – A very useful method for researchers and engineers who are engaged in satellite online monitoring and diagnosis.Originality/value – This paper presents a new method combining multisignal model and fuzzy theory to give the failure probability for suspected components which improves the speed and precision for fault diagnosis.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 77 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0002-2667

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2005

Rajiv Kumar Sharma, Dinesh Kumar and Pradeep Kumar

To permit the system safety and reliability analysts to evaluate the criticality or risk associated with item failure modes.

5519

Abstract

Purpose

To permit the system safety and reliability analysts to evaluate the criticality or risk associated with item failure modes.

Design/methodology/approach

The factors considered in traditional failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) for risk assessment are frequency of occurrence (Sf), severity (S) and detectability (Sd) of an item failure mode. Because of the subjective and qualitative nature of the information and to make the analysis more consistent and logical, an approach using fuzzy logic is proposed. In the proposed approach, these parameters are represented as members of a fuzzy set fuzzified by using appropriate membership functions and are evaluated in fuzzy inference engine, which makes use of well‐defined rule base and fuzzy logic operations to determine the criticality/riskiness level of the failure. The fuzzy conclusion is then defuzzified to get risk priority number. The higher the value of RPN, the greater will be the risk and lower the value of RPN, and the lesser will be the risk. The fuzzy linguistic assessment model was developed using toolbox platform of MATLAB 6.5 R.13.

Findings

The applicability of the proposed approach is investigated with the help of an illustrative case study from the paper industry. Fuzzy risk assessment is carried out for prioritizing failure causes of the hydraulic system, a primary element of the feeding system. The results provide an alternate ranking to that obtained by the traditional method. It is concluded from the study that the fuzzy logic‐based approach not only resolves the limitations associated with traditional methodology for RPN evaluation but also permits the experts to combine probability of occurrence (Sf), severity (S) and detectability (Sd) of failure modes in a more flexible and realistic manner by using their judgement, experience and expertise.

Originality/value

The paper integrates the use of fuzzy logic and expert database with FMEA and may prove helpful to system safety and reliability analysts while conducting failure mode and effect analysis to prioritize failures for taking corrective or remedial actions.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 22 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2003

Marcello Braglia, Marco Frosolini and Roberto Montanari

This paper presents a tool for reliability and failure mode analysis based on an advanced version of the popular failure mode, effects and criticality analysis (FMECA) procedure…

2317

Abstract

This paper presents a tool for reliability and failure mode analysis based on an advanced version of the popular failure mode, effects and criticality analysis (FMECA) procedure. To help the analyst formulating efficiently effective criticality assessments of the possible causes of failure, the fuzzy logic technique is adopted. Particular attention has been devoted to support the maintenance staff with a fuzzy criticality assessment model easy to implement and design. To test the proposed methodology, an actual application concerning a process plant in milling field for human consumption flour is showed in the paper.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 20 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2005

E.P. Zafiropoulos and E.N. Dialynas

The paper presents an efficient methodology that was developed for the reliability prediction and the failure mode effects and criticality analysis (FMECA) of electronic devices…

3712

Abstract

Purpose

The paper presents an efficient methodology that was developed for the reliability prediction and the failure mode effects and criticality analysis (FMECA) of electronic devices using fuzzy logic.

Design/methodology/approach

The reliability prediction is based on the general features and characteristics of the MIL‐HDBK‐217FN2 technical document and a derating plan for the system design is developed in order to maintain low components’ failure rates. These failure rates are used in the FMECA, which uses fuzzy sets to represent the respective parameters. A fuzzy failure mode risk index is introduced that gives priority to the criticality of the components for the system operation, while a knowledge base is developed to identify the rules governing the fuzzy inputs and output. The fuzzy inference module is Mamdani type and uses the min‐max implication‐aggregation.

Findings

A typical power electronic device such as a switched mode power supply was analyzed and the appropriate reliability indices were estimated using the stress factors of the derating plan. The fuzzy failure mode risk indices were calculated and compared with the respective indices calculated by the conventional FMECA.

Research limitations/implications

Further research efforts are needed for the application of fuzzy modeling techniques in the area of reliability assessment of electronic devices. These research efforts can be concentrated in certain applications that have practical value.

Practical implications

Practical applications can use a fuzzy FMECA modeling instead of the classical FMECA one, in order to obtain a more accurate analysis.

Originality/value

Fuzzy modeling of FMECA is described which can calculate fuzzy failure mode risk indices.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 22 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 2000