Optimal inspection policies for a storage system with degradation at periodic tests

A system such as missiles and spare parts of aircrafts is in storage for a long time from transportation to usage. The reliability of a system in storage will go down with time, and so, it should be inspected and maintained at suitable times to hold a high reliability. However, we do not wish to inspect a system too often because each inspection involves a cost and sometimes might degrade some parts of a system during the test interval. This paper considers a periodic inspection policy for a storage system which has to hold a higher reliability. A system has two types of units, where Unit 1 is maintained at each test, however, Unit 2 is degraded with time and at each test. A system is also overhauled, if the reliability becomes lower than a prespecified value q. The reliability of a system is derived, and using this result, the time and the average cost until overhaul is obtained. The optimal policies which maximize the time to overhaul and minimize the average cost are discussed. Finally, numerical examples are given. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.