An Analysis for a Precise Reliability and Availability Assessment of “Photovoltaic System" Pilot Site: a Case Study

In this paper a new way to approach the reliability and availability analysis for a complex system is developed. A “case study”, concerning a photovoltaic generation system inside the University of “Roma Tre”, is examined. The system was designed to supply power to a building (on an experimental basis) and to work alongside the power grid. Initially the system is subjected to a reliability analysis to establish the MTBF of each component and of the overall system: the analysis is based on methods that try to overcome the old military handbook MIL-HDBK-217 by taking into account parameters that are well able to define the expectation of life of modern components. The second availability analysis gives us the actual time available to the end user. The synthesis of the analysis will give us a real insight into the behaviour of the complex system, indicating criticalities and strengths.