ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces some simple statistical methods for dealing with repairable systems reliability data. A system may be regarded as a collection of two or more components which is required to perform one or more functions. A repairable system is a system which, after it has failed to perform properly, can be restored to satisfactory performance by any method except replacement of the entire system. In practice many systems are of this type. Examples featured in this chapter are: air-conditioning equipment in an aircraft; a system of generators in a marine vessel, main propulsion diesel engines of USS Grampus and USS Halfbeak; and some software during the production and testing stages. For a continuously operating refrigerator in reasonably constant conditions, real time may be an appropriate measure for investigating reliability of the system. For example, the mileages of a motor vehicle between breakdowns may be more useful for assessing reliability than real time and easier to record than operating time.
