A Simple Discrete Approximation for the Renewal Function

Brezavšček Alenka ()
Additional contact information
Brezavšček Alenka: University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kranj, Slovenia

Business Systems Research, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 65-75

Abstract: Background: The renewal function is widely useful in the areas of reliability, maintenance and spare component inventory planning. Its calculation relies on the type of the probability density function of component failure times which can be, regarding the region of the component lifetime, modelled either by the exponential or by one of the peak-shaped density functions. For most peak-shaped distribution families the closed form of the renewal function is not available. Many approximate solutions can be found in the literature, but calculations are often tedious. Simple formulas are usually obtained for a limited range of functions only. Objectives: We propose a new approach for evaluation of the renewal function by the use of a simple discrete approximation method, applicable to any probability density function. Methods/Approach: The approximation is based on the well known renewal equation. Results: The usefulness is proved through some numerical results using the normal, lognormal, Weibull and gamma density functions. The accuracy is analysed using the normal density function. Conclusions: The approximation proposed enables simple and fairly accurate calculation of the renewal function irrespective of the type of the probability density function. It is especially applicable to the peak-shaped density functions when the analytical solution hardly ever exists.

Keywords: component; failure times; probability density function; random failures; wear-out failures; renewal function; approximation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.2478/bsrj-2013-0006 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bit:bsrysr:v:4:y:2013:i:1:p:65-75

DOI: 10.2478/bsrj-2013-0006

Access Statistics for this article

Business Systems Research is currently edited by Mirjana Pejić Bach

More articles in Business Systems Research from Sciendo
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().