Reliability estimation for hybrid system under constant-stress partially accelerated life test with progressively hybrid censoring

Background: Reliability analysis for the systems with masked data had been studied by many scholars. However, most researches focused on a system that is either series or parallel only, and the component in the system is mainly exponential or Weibull. In engineering practice, it is of-ten seen that the structure of a system is a combination of series and parallel system, and other types of components are also used in the system. So it is important to study the reliability analysis of hybrid systems with modified Weibull components. Objective: For the hybrid system with masked data, the constant stress partial accelerated life test is performed under type-II progressive hybrid censoring. These data from life test are used to estimate unknown parameters and reliability index of system. The research results will not only provide theoretical basis and reference for system reliability assessment but also favor the patents on partial accelerated life test. Methods: Maximum likelihood estimates of unknown parameters are investigated with the numerical method. The approximate confidence intervals, and bootstrap confidence intervals for parameters are constructed by the asymptotic theory and the bootstrap method, respectively. Results: Maximum likelihood estimations of unknown parameters and reliability index of system are derived. The approximate confidence intervals and bootstrap confidence intervals for unknown parameters are proposed. The performance of estimation of unknown parameters and reliability index are evaluated numerically through Monte Carlo method. Conclusion: The performance on maximum likelihood estimation method is effective and satisfying. For the confidence intervals of parameters, bootstrap method outperforms the approximate method. © 2020 Bentham Science Publishers.