Create Reliability Elements as a Vector

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Robin MacDonald

• February 07, 2024 21:55

Hi GoldSim Forum,

I am modelling a system composed of 8 identical equipment units which operate continuously and independently of one another, and of which each can fail. All of the units fail based on the same probability, just independently of one another. When one fails, the others continue operating normally. I would like to model the unit failures using a reliability element.

Here's my roadblock: the model is set up using vectors, where the operating status of each of the 8 units is represented by an entry in the vector. This is done so that it's easy to test the model using more or fewer units within the system (by simply editing the array label without needing to copy/paste or delete entire elements). However, I don't want to create 8 copies of the same reliability element to model the failure of the units, and then have to add/delete these elements to test different numbers of units. Ideally, I'd like to find a way to create a vector of reliability elements where each entry in the vector has identical parameters but can operate independently of one another.

I'm guessing this is not possible to execute in GoldSim...however, I'd still like to know if there's a reasonable workaround for this that will allow me to accomplish the same task. That is to say, at each hour, a vector of 'signals' is generated indicating whether each unit is failed or not, and where failures for each unit result in downtime for a specified period of time, after which the failed unit is 'reset' and the failure rate for that unit is resampled again.

Appreciate everyone's thoughts and suggestions!

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  Jason

  • February 09, 2024 17:11
  • Edited

  Robin,

  Thanks for writing the GoldSim Forum! Reliability Function elements cannot be vectorized but you are right that a workaround exists for a case like this. I recommend using cloned Containers where you can refer to a "component ID" number that pulls the reliability input data from a vector automatically.

  

  All you need to do is make sure that the component IDs are updated if you add new clones. The beauty of cloned containers is that changes made to one will replicate automatically to all clones that exist. I created a simple model to demonstrate this and attached it below. 

  Before you dive in, I recommend that you have a look at this simple cloning example model first: https://support.goldsim.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000979988-Cloning-Containers 

  Here is the model example I came up with that fits your description: https://472762a2af97076c4e0b-8133bebcb09a150bbeebc93c39d5e5f7.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/Cloned%20Function%20Components.gsm

  Please let me know if this helps!

  -Jason

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  Robin MacDonald

  • February 20, 2024 18:11

  Hi Jason, thanks so much for your help! I was able to use the clones as you demonstrated to create the vector I needed to feed into the rest of my model. The downside, though, is that with this method, it seems I'll still need to create additional clones of the 'Component' folder each time I want to model a larger number of components. I'd prefer to have the number of clones present be a function of a user-specified input "Number_of_Components" - is that possible?

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  Jason

  • February 26, 2024 17:10

  No, unfortunately that isn't possible when using the Reliability function elements since those don't support non-scalar outputs. How often do you foresee that you will need to change the number of reliability components? If your requirement to modify the number of items proves to be too difficult using clones, then perhaps you could look at programming the failures using basic (non-RL module) elements that are vectorized. But I would consider this a last resort because there is a lot of functionality you will need to handle yourself if you go away from the RL function element.

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