Standby component replacement strategy for a balanced system with a standby pool

In this paper, a new rebalancing strategy is proposed by replacing the standby components for a balanced system with a standby pool. The working components are connected in series. All standby components are stored in a standby component pool. When the working components do not fail and the balance degree of the system does not exceed a threshold, the system can operate normally. The balance degree of the system is defined as the maximum state difference of all the working components. If the system becomes unbalanced or fails, a qualified standby component in the standby pool should be selected to replace the working component. The replacement strategy is given in detail. This paper uses the discrete-state continuous-time Markov process to derive the system reliability. Finally, a numerical example and sensitivity analysis are given. Considering the downtime cost and the cost of purchasing standby components, the number of standby components in the standby pool is optimized.