Reliability Assessment of Heavily Censored Data Based on E-Bayesian Estimation

The classic E-Bayesian estimation methods can only derive point estimation of the reliability parameters. In this paper, an improved E-Bayesian estimation method is proposed to evaluate product reliability under heavily censored data, which can achieve both point and confidence interval estimation for the reliability parameters. Firstly, by analyzing the concavity & convexity and function characteristics of the Weibull distribution, the value of product failure probability is limited to a certain range. Secondly, an improved weighted least squares method is utilized to construct the confidence interval estimation model of reliability parameters. Simulation results show that the proposed approach can significantly improve the calculation speed and estimation accuracy with just very few robustness reductions. Finally, a real-world case study of the sun gear transmission mechanism is used to validate the effectiveness of the presented method.

Automated summary

An improved E-Bayesian estimation method is proposed in this paper to evaluate product reliability under heavily censored data. The proposed method can achieve both point and confidence interval estimation for the reliability parameters by limiting the value of product failure probability within a certain range through analyzing the characteristics of the Weibull distribution. An improved weighted least squares method is utilized to construct the confidence interval estimation model of reliability parameters. Simulation results show that the proposed approach can significantly improve the calculation speed and estimation accuracy with minimal reductions in robustness. Finally, a real-world case study of the sun gear transmission mechanism is used to validate the effectiveness of the presented method.