Question 5:
a) Assume that the constant failure rate of a personal computer is 0.0002 failures per hour.
i. Calculate the mean time to failures of this personal computer.
(2 marks)
ii. Calculate the computer's reliability for a 100 hours mission.
(3 marks)
b) A personal computer consist of four basic sub systems: motherboard (MB), hard disk (HD),
power supply (PS) and Processor (CPU). The reliability of these four subsystems are 0.98, 0.95, 0.91
and 0.99 respectively.
In designing a computer based control system, two computers are being considered for having
higher reliability. Designer A is suggesting for redundancy at the system level (high level), where as,
designer B is suggesting for redundancy at the sub-system level (low level).
Calculate the computer reliability based on these 2 designs, and recommend the better design.
(7 marks)
c) Name three methods that can be used for calculating system reliability.
(3 marks)
d) Using an appropriate method, calculate the reliability of the Reliability Block Diagram shown in
Figure Q5.
Show all steps of your working, and assume the reliability of each component is 0.97.
Al
A2
C
Bl
B2
Figure Q5. A system with five components
(10 marks)
TOTAL 25 marks
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