Age replacement policies for discrete and continuous heterogeneous <i>k</i>-out-of-<i>n</i> systems

Abstract

This paper studies age replacement policy for the k-out-of-n system that consists of independent but nonidentical components. Both continuously and discretely distributed components' lifetimes are considered. The failed components are replaced by new components and non-failed components are rejuvenated. Because the components are non-identical, the acquisition and rejuvenation costs of the components are chosen differently. The policy and the associated optimization problem are presented for general k and n, and 2-out-of-3 systems are studied in detail. The findings of the present paper extend the results in the literature from parallel systems to k-out-of-n systems.