An availability model for the SNS linac RF system

The linac RF system is broken down into eight major components for this model. These components are: the klystrons, the waveguide, the water loads, the circulators, the converter/modulator, the transmitter, the window, and the low level RF (LLRF) controls. The mean time between failures (MTBF) for several of the components vary with voltage or klystron power level, and this variation is discussed below. In general, these MTBF's are design requirements supplied to the vendors of the subsystems, and verified at design reviews and by the experience at other accelerators. We assume that the scheduled operational time for the SNS is 6000 hours per year, and use this number to calculate the availability. We have to calculate the total down time during the 6000 hours of operation, and the availability is defined as one minus the unexpected down time for the year, divided by the number of operating hours in the year. Ideally, we would use distributions of MTBF's and MTTR's, since each failure will be different, but the equipment is not yet built, so the distributions are not available, and we make the assumption of constant MTBF and MTTR.