Abstract
Nuclear power plants (NPP) require continuous processing of various process parameters for their proper functioning, of which temperature and pressure levels are of prime importance. This is where transmitters or sensors are used and therefore it is important to measure the reliability and conduct failure testing of these components. A transmitter is one which transmits the output signal provided by the transducer for further processing. The calculation of reliability of smart transmitter is of vital importance to ensure safe operation of a nuclear power plant (NPP). The total failure rate of a smart transmitter is cumulative of the failure rates of all the different components present in the smart transmitter. Therefore we need to examine in detail the different components of smart transmitter and their possible failure rates. In order to calculate the reliability of each component individually, Relex Architect, a reliability analysis software tool is used to predict the failure rate of the electronic components. In this paper reliability of smart pressure transmitters is predicted, also communication of smart pressure transmitter with external devices (HART communicator and PC) is also presented.
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Abbreviations
- \(\prod_{\text{G}}\) :
-
Reliability growth failure rate multiplier
- \(\prod _{\text{C }}\) :
-
Capacitance failure rate multiplier
- \({{\lambda }}_{\text{OB}}\) :
-
Base failure rate, operating
- \(\prod_{\text{DCO }}\) :
-
Failure rate multiplier for duty cycle, operating
- \(\prod_{\text{TO }}\) :
-
Failure rate multiplier for temperature, operating
- \(\prod_{\text{S }}\) :
-
Failure rate multiplier for stress
- \({{\lambda }}_{\text{EB}}\) :
-
Base failure rate, environmental
- \(\prod_{DCN}\) :
-
Failure rate multiplier, duty cycle—non operating
- \(\prod_{TE}\) :
-
Failure rate multiplier, temperature—environment
- \({{\lambda }}_{\text{TCB}}\) :
-
Base failure rate, temperature cycling
- \(\prod_{CR}\) :
-
Failure rate multiplier, cycling rate
- \(\prod_{DT}\) :
-
Failure rate multiplier, delta temperature
- \(\prod_{SJB}\) :
-
Base failure rate, solder joint
- \(\prod_{SJDT}\) :
-
Failure rate multiplier, solder joint delta temperature
- \({{\lambda }}_{\text{EOS}}\) :
-
Failure rate, electrical overstress
- \({{\lambda }}_{\text{b}}\) :
-
Base failure rate
- \(\prod_{\text{K}}\) :
-
Mating/unmating factor
- \(\prod_{\text{p}}\) :
-
Active pins factor
- \(\prod_{\text{E}}\) :
-
Environment factor
- \(\prod_{\text{T}}\) :
-
Temperature factor
- \(\prod_{\text{A}}\) :
-
Application factor
- \(\prod_{\text{Q}}\) :
-
Quality factor
- \(\prod_{\text{CC}}\) :
-
Contact construction factor
- MTBF:
-
Mean time between failure
References
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IEC 60770-1 (edition 2) (2006) Transmitters for use in industrial-process control systems—Part 1: methods for performance evaluation of intelligent transmitters. 1st ed. Geneva: International Electrotechnical Commission; 2006
MIL-HDBK-338B (1998) Electronic reliability design handbook, 1 October 1998
MIL-STD-1629A (1980) Procedures for performing a failure mode, effects and criticality analysis, 24 November 1980
Relex Architect (2008) Relex Reliability studio, 2008
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. We thank our guides from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted the research.
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Reddy, Y.M., Narne, R., Santhosh, T.V. et al. Reliability prediction of smart pressure transmitter for use in NPPs. Int J Syst Assur Eng Manag 8 (Suppl 2), 656–662 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13198-016-0502-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13198-016-0502-7