Fuzzy reliability analysis of the washing system in a paper plant using the TBFLT technique

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the reliability of the washing system in a paper plant in a more promising way under vague environment by reducing the accumulating phenomenon of fuzziness and accelerating the computation process using the Tω (weakest t-norm) based fuzzy lambda-tau (TBFLT) technique. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a unified approach for analyzing the fuzzy reliability of the washing system under vague environment. This approach applies the TBFLT technique which uses triangular fuzzy numbers for incorporating data uncertainty, fault tree and lambda-tau method for finding system failure rate and repair time mathematical expressions while simplified Tω-based arithmetic operations are applied for computing various reliability parameters of the system. The effectiveness of the TBFLT technique has been demonstrated by analyzing fuzzy reliability of the system using five different techniques including TBFLT. Moreover, this paper applies extended Tanaka’s (1983) approach to rank the critical components of the system. Findings The TBFLT technique has the advantage of low computation complexity in comparison to other techniques and effectively reduces the accumulating phenomenon of fuzziness. This main finding verifies the conclusion made by Chen (1994). Originality/value The author has suggested a simple and more applicable technique for analyzing the fuzzy reliability of any complex process industrial system under vague environment. The effectiveness of the technique has been demonstrated by computing various reliability parameters of the washing system of a paper plant.

Assessment of Lean Six Sigma Readiness (LESIRE) for manufacturing industries using fuzzy logic

“…Chen and Hwang (1992) describe triangular fuzzy numbers as a special case of fuzzy numbers and define a fuzzy number ( a , b , c ) whose membership functions ( f A ( X )) are as shown in the following equation: If a = b = c , then the triangular fuzzy number is reduced to a real number. Lin et al (2006), Vinodh and Chintha (2011), Vinodh and Vimal (2012) and Komal (2017) developed a set of fuzzy numbers corresponding to each linguistic term to evaluate agility and leanness, and those used to measure the LESIRE are shown in Table II.…”

“…If a ¼ b ¼ c, then the triangular fuzzy number is reduced to a real number. Lin et al (2006), Vinodh and Chintha (2011), Vinodh and Vimal (2012) and Komal (2017) developed a set of fuzzy numbers corresponding to each linguistic term to evaluate agility and leanness, and those used to measure the LESIRE are shown in Table II.…”

Fuzzy reliability analysis of the compressor house unit (CHU) system in a coal fired thermal power plant using TBGFLT technique

“…For reducing the accumulating phenomenon of fuzziness and fasten the computation in such a way that computed fuzzy reliability parameters have symmetric shapes, Komal et al (2015) introduced the TBFLT technique in which fault tree, LT method, data as TFNs (Figure 3(a)) and simplified T ω -based approximate fuzzy arithmetic operations given in Table III are used. Recently, TBFLT has been applied to analyze the fuzzy reliability of a washing system in a paper plant (Komal, 2017b).…”

“…Komal et al (2015) introduced T ω -based fuzzy Lambda-Tau (TBFLT) technique which applies the LT method, TFNs, α -cut coupled T ω -based fuzzy arithmetic operations for computing fuzzy reliability of dual-fuel steam turbine mechanical propulsion conventional system. Komal (2017b) recently applied TBFLT to assess the fuzzy reliability of a washing system in a paper plant. In above discussed fuzzy reliability techniques for repairable systems, either TFNs, triangle vague sets or triangle IFS have been used for quantifying uncertainty.…”

Experimental Study for Cleanliness Evaluation of Tractor Engine Components

“…In the case company, Millipore method is used to remove contaminates from the sample parts by brushing and flushing with a solvent and filtering the solvent to remove the contaminants and then determining the quantity and nature of the contaminants removed. The brushing and flushing procedure does not yield complete removal of contaminants present but with good practice a 50% yield will be obtained discrepancies can occurs thus sufficient brushing and flushing [4,5]. Also foreign particles can become trapped in the brushes, cleaning brushes before the check is essential.…”