Reliability Analysis of Multiperformance Multistate System Considering Performance Conversion Process

A large variety of real engineering systems operate with multiple performance measures that are multistate in nature. These systems are usually modeled as multiperformance multistate systems (MPMSSs). However, existing MPMSS models fail to consider an important aspect, i.e., the performance conversion process. For example, in a combined heat and power (CHP) generating unit, apart from the output heat and electricity, decision-makers are also interested in the unit's capacity to convert gas into electricity and heat. The latter is related to the performance conversion process. This article proposes a framework for the reliability evaluation of performance conversion-based MPMSS. In the proposed MPMSS model, the couplings among different types of performances inside the components are quantified into the multistate performance conversion matrix. The performance conversion structure functions are proposed to derive system performance conversion capability based on the conversion capabilities of the components. Two reliability evaluation methods considering the steady-state performance conversion process and the continuous-time performance conversion process are proposed, respectively. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the developed methods.