ABSTRACT
The ultimate goal of any design engineer or maintenance department is zero downtime. This is an elusive goal, but one that can be approximated by examining the vulnerable areas of plant operation and taking steps to prevent a sequence of events that could result in system failure. In cases where failure prevention is not practical, a reliability assessment should encompass the stocking of spare parts, circuit boards, or even entire systems. A large facility may be able to cost-justify the purchase of backup gear that can be used as spares for the entire complex. Backup hardware is expensive, but so is downtime. Because of the finite lifetime of power vacuum tubes, these considerations are of special significance.
