Search results for "reliability"
showing 10 items of 1563 documents
Reliability Analysis of a Stand-Alone PV System for the Supply of a Remote Electric Load
2010
The work presents a reliability analysis of a stand-alone photovoltaic system for the supply of electric loads located in remote areas not easily reachable by the low voltage distribution network. The analysis is performed by characterizing the electric load behavior by means of a Montecarlo approach for taking into account the stochastic variability of the electrical energy demand. A Montecarlo approach is used also for evaluating the electricity production of the stand alone photovoltaic system as a function of the hourly solar irradiation of the installation site. The variability both of the load and of the energy production are correlated and the probability that the load can remain uns…
Analysis of voltage dips propagation in MV distribution networks by using ATP-EMTP code
2003
In this paper, voltage dips simulation in electric power MV distribution networks by using an improved ATP circuit-breaker model are reported. An equivalent circuit of a MV distribution system is employed. The circuit-breaker is simulated by using a tool written in MODELS language and by arranging a time-variable differential arc-conductance based on the combination of Mayr's and Cassie's equations. The simulations carried out have shown how the amplitude of the voltage dips depends on the type and location of the fault and their duration is strictly related to the circuit-breaker parameters.
Ability of Preissmann slot scheme to simulate smooth pressurisation transient in sewers
2010
Urban drainage networks are generally designed to operate in a free-surface flow condition. However, as a consequence of heavy rainfall events or network malfunctioning, filling of sewers (pressurization) and network overflowing may occur. Several softwares are commonly used to simulate floods in drainage networks and their results are usually thought to be reliable and robust. However, no specific studies have been carried out on the behaviour of these softwares during the pressurization transient. Actually, mathematical models based on the momentum equation appear to be more suitable in correctly simulating the pressurization moving jump but models based on the energy equation are much mo…
Operational efficiency of a pilot plant for wastewater reuse
1996
Reuse of wastewaters for non-potable uses needs a higher than normal reliability in treatment plant operation and management, in order to ensure higher safety margins for public health and environmental protection. After a two-years research project on a pilot plant designed for agricoltural reuse, all control parameters used for the plant operation have been examined, in order to obtain useful observations on efficiency of each of the treatment units, for best overall performance. It was concluded that this type of package plant was able to produce a high quality effluent under various conditions, providing a good confidence on the reliability of the system. Reuse of wastewaters for non-po…
A Dempster-Shafer Theory-based approach to the Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) under epistemic uncertainty: application to the…
2017
Abstract Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a safety and reliability analysis tool widely used for the identification of system/process potential failures, their causes and consequences. When aimed at the failure modes prioritization, FMEA is named Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA). In the latter case, failure modes are commonly prioritized by means of the Risk Priority Number (RPN) that has been widely criticized to have several shortcomings. Firstly, in the presence of multiple experts supplying different and uncertain judgments on risk parameters, RPN is not able to deal with such a kind of information. Therefore, the present paper proposes the Dempster-Shaf…
Diagnosis of intermittent fault dynamics
2008
Diagnosis of intermittent faults is relevant for productive processes with a high level of maintenance caused by such failures. A characterization of diagnosed faults may save unnecessary repairs and enable better maintenance planning. This paper introduces the concept of diagnosis of intermittent fault dynamics. Moreover, a methodology for modelling intermittent faults and generating information for maintenance planning in discrete event systems is thoroughly covered.
FE Calculation Methodology for the Thermodynamic Fatigue Analysis of an Engine Component
2006
Thermo mechanical fatigue problem is treated to define an analysis methodology permitting the strength evaluation by reliability viewpoint. The main difficulty is the lack of both theoretical and experimental information; consequently the problem is treated verifying continually the validity and the limits of the developing solution method. The main task of the activity described in this paper was the development of a numerical methodology, based on FE analyses, for the evaluation of the structural behavior of engine components subjected to thermo mechanical fatigue phenomena. The chosen application was the exhaust manifold of an IC engine; FE analyses were executed following the standard m…
Modular fault diagnosis based on discrete event systems for a mixer chemical process
2003
The knowledge of failure type and their location is an indispensable requirement for the establishment of tasks of adequate recovery strategies and maintenance of both factory automation and process control systems. The failure diagnosis methodology presented in the paper is based on discrete event systems models and on the diagnosers concept, those which permit the analysis off-line and online of diagnosability of failures that can occur in the processes. We present an approach for models and associated diagnosers based on a modular decomposition of the global system, with the purpose of avoiding the problems of the exponential explosion of the number of states and of the computational com…
Capacity and safety analysis of hard-shoulder running (HSR). A motorway case study
2016
Abstract Operational motorway conditions can be improved by introducing traffic flow management and control systems, such as ramp metering (RM), high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, real-time variable speed limits (VSLs), reversible lanes (RL), automated highway systems (AHS) and hard-shoulder running (HSR). The effects of such devices need to be examined in terms of capacity and safety. This paper examines the case study of the Italian motorway A22, which is supposed to be equipped with an HSR system implemented along 128 km in order to reduce congestion with consequent improvement in levels of service (LOS). We studied the traffic processes (capacity, flow distribution between lanes, relia…
Evaluation of automatically steered agricultural vehicles
2008
The popularization of automatic guidance systems for off-road vehicles, especially in agricultural environments, has led to a sudden affluence of commercial solutions. As a consequence, end users are often overwhelmed by the spread of possibilities commercially available, on top of the confusion provoked by the guidance accuracy advertised by manufacturers. Therefore, there is a need for a methodology that objectively quantifies the level of performance of any auto-steering system, classifying different solutions according to their accuracy and reliability. This paper describes a method to evaluate the behavior of any automatically driven agricultural vehicle traveling along paths of any cu…