ISSN: 2319-5967

ISO 9001:2008 Certified

International Journal of Engineering Science and Innovative Technology (IJESIT)
Volume 2, Issue 4, July 2013

Reliability Analysis of Moulded Case Circuit

Breaker Mechanism Based On Stress Strength
Interference with Degradation Analysis
Prathamesh R.Potdar, Santosh B.Rane
Sardar Patel College of Engineering, Munshi Nagar, Andheri West, Mumbai -400058,
Associate Professor , Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sardar Patel College of Engineering
Munshi Nagar, Andheri West, Mumbai -400058
Abstract This paper presents reliability prediction of Moulded Case Circuit Breaker (MCCB) mechanism based on
Stress Strength Interference (SSI) with degradation analysis. In degradation considered stress acting on component is
constant and strength of component is reduced with respect to number of operating cycles. Identify the number of
components in mechanism with their failure modes for accurate reliability analysis also find various stresses acting on the
component out which for reliability analysis considered the maximum stress acting on the component. The reliability
analysis of MCCB mechanism components are carried out in three intervals of operating cycles like 10000cycles,
20000cycles and 30000cycles. The main objective of this paper is to predict reliability of system when the system in design
and development stage. The SSI degradation model is used to calculate degradation in strength of MCCB mechanism
components with respect to number of operating cycles. At the end of this paper, reliability of mechanism is predicted from
the reliability of mechanism components for thee intervals.
Key words Analytical method, degradation model, failure modes, reliability analysis, stress analysis.

I. INTRODUCTION
Moulded Case circuit Breaker is mostly designed to protect system from low voltage distribution. MCCB consist
by various subsystems like operating mechanism, Trip system and Arc quenching system out of those subsystems
the operating mechanism is main subsystem of MCCB and most of the failures are introduced in operating
mechanism of MCCB, so its important to do reliability analysis of MCCB mechanism in design and development
stage to decide various strategies for warranty and maintenance. Also from literature it is came to know there is
90% failure introduced in MCCB due to failures are introduced in operating mechanism. The various functions of
MCCB are achieved by using operating mechanism. The various components of operating mechanism are
motioned in Table I. The requirement of the mechanism is to perform various functions of MCCB with quick and
instant of time and to perform those functions by mechanism the torsion extension spring is used. The torsion
extension spring exert force on the various components of mechanism in various directions so design of various
components is done based on spring force.
Reliability is defined as the ability of a system or component to perform its required functions under stated
conditions for a specified period of time (IEEE; 1990). The stress strength interference (SSI) model has been
widely used for reliability analysis of mechanical components. The concept of stress-strength in engineering
devices has been one of the deciding factors of failure of the devices. It has been customary to define safety factors
for longer lives of systems in terms of the inherent strength they have and the external stress being experienced by
the systems. If Xo is the fixed strength and Yo is the fixed stress, that a system is experiencing, then the ratio Xo/
Yo is called safety factor or factor of safety and the difference of Xo - Yo is called safety margin. Thus in the
deterministic stress-strength situation the system survives only if the safety factor is greater than 1 or equivalently
safety margin is positive.
There are appliances (every physical component possesses an inherent strength) which survive due to their
strength. These appliances receive a certain level of stress and sustain. But if a higher level of stress is applied then
their strength is unable to sustain and they break down. The term stress is defined as failure inducing variable and
also it is defined as stress (load) which tends to produce a failure of a component or of a device of a material. The
term load may be defined as mechanical load, environment, temperature and electric current etc. The term strength
is defined as the ability of component, a device or a material to accomplish its required function (mission)

26

ISSN: 2319-5967
ISO 9001:2008 Certified
International Journal of Engineering Science and Innovative Technology (IJESIT)
Volume 2, Issue 4, July 2013
satisfactorily without failure when subjected to the external loading and environment therefore strength is failure
resisting variable. Stress-strength model is defined as the variation in stress and strength results in a statistical
distribution and natural scatter occur in these variables when the two distributions interfere.
In further investigations concerning to calculate components reliability based on the SSI model. Therefore effort
have been taken by many researchers, established Discrete Stress Strength Interference Model for Reliability
Analysis Under Multi-operating Conditions [1], the algorithm is developed for computing the unreliability bounds
based on an improved Monte Carlo method [2], estimate a time to failure distribution using degradation analysis
[3], mathematical model is developed to calculate exact truncated exponential and power function strength with
normal stress in SSI [4], presents the reliability computation based on Bayesian estimation and stress strength
Mukherjee Islam Failure Model [5], reliability estimation of system based on SSI model [6], dynamic reliability
models of mechanical components with the failure mode of fatigue are developed based on equivalent strength
degradation paths, whose uncertainty is determined by both the distribution of material parameters and the
distribution of load, reliability analysis by considering fatigue stress and statistical inference solved by finite
element analysis and Monte Carlo simulation [7].
II. DEGRADATION MODEL
There are four degradation models available for reliability analysis. Those are linear, exponential, power and
logarithmic. A power degradation model is typically seen in situations where the level of the mean rate of wear is
monotonically decreasing. Evidence of this is seen in processes where there is an accumulation of fatigue in metals,
accumulation of deformation, corrosion, diffusion of one chemical in another and various other chemical
processes. While, a decreasing degradation model is often counterintuitive when considering processes of fatigue
and crack growth especially in the zone of catastrophic wear (one of three zones in a typical wear cycle), consider
the situation where the level of Al2O3 in Al serves as an indicator of degradation in terms of loss in hardness and
density. Here, when pure aluminium is subject to oxidation, Al2O3 forms a surface layer that hinders the rate of
oxidation hence causing the rate of drop in hardness to monotonically decrease. Similarly, many such processes in
the field of pharmacokinetics indicate a power degradation model. A power degradation model is represented in
equation (1)
Where, S(t) is the value of tensile strength at time t and is the initial inert strength.
Parameters & are constant values equal to 0.010169 and 0.004011, respectively, when tested under relative
humidity of 50% and determined by means of nonlinear regression [8].
III. ANALYTICAL METHOD
The stress-strength interference model is one analytical method used to compute reliability of system or
component. It is found to be useful in situations where the reliability of a component or system is defined by the
probability that a random variable Y (representing strength) is greater than another random variable X
(representing stress). Any state of component where Y falls below X represents the component to be in
unacceptable state or to have failed. Once the distribution and parameters of X and Y are determined, the reliability
can be calculated by estimating the probability X<Y, which is computed by equation (2)

Where, f(x) is the probability density function (pdf) of stress (X) and f(y) is the probability density function (pdf) of
strength (Y). Analytical model to calculate reliability based on SSI by considering degradation model which is
shown in equation (3)

where,
= standard deviation of the Strength at timet
= mean of the strength at the timet

27

ISSN: 2319-5967
ISO 9001:2008 Certified
International Journal of Engineering Science and Innovative Technology (IJESIT)
Volume 2, Issue 4, July 2013
IV. FAILURE MODE
To increase the reliability of component or system in design stage it is essential to find the various possible failure
modes of component or system. But in practical there must be more than one failure mode for each component like
upper link have bending, shear, and bearing failure modes those are shown in Table I. Out of those failure modes
the design is done based on the most critical failure mode to reduce the frequency of failure. The reliability of
system is purely depends on their components thats why for reliability analysis of MCCB mechanism there must
know the number of components of MCCB mechanism so Table I represents the number of components in
mechanism with their possible failure modes. Those failure modes have been decided from the geometry of
components and the direction of force acting on the components. In Table I Y represents failure mode is present
in component and N represents absence of failure mode.
are represents bending, shear,
crushing, bearing, buckling failure modes respectively.
Table I: Number of components in MCCB mechanism with possible failure modes
Sr.
No.

Name of Components

Types of failure modes

Upper link (UL)

Lower link

Latch link (LL)

Fork

Floating pin

Latch Bracket (LB)

LB pivot pin

Trip Plate (TP)

TP pivot pin

10

UL pivot pin

11

LL pivot pin

V. STRESS ANALYSIS
In stress strength inference model stress analysis plays a very vital role and which is very useful for reliability
analysis in design stage. Stress analysis is nothing but analysis the effect of various loads acting on the various
components of MCCB mechanism. In MCCB mechanism the load acting on various components is due to torsion
extension spring. The intensity of spring force is varying with respect to position of spring and the various positions
of spring are ON, OFF, and Trip positions. From analysis of MCCB mechanism it is came to know that in ON
position the spring exerted higher force on the component upper link pivot pin so the stress calculation is done for
maximum force. Similarly all stress calculations are carried out for other components of MCCB mechanism and the
results of calculations are shown in Table II. The calculation of various stresses acting on the components is done
based on the maximum bending moment equation and those values are verified on Pro-E software with ProMechanical analysis. According to the stress calculation of components the material selection is done to ensure the
factor of safety (FOS). The maximum stress acting on component, strength of component and FOS are listed in
Table II. Form stress analysis and material selection the factor of safety of all components is greater than one means
the reliability of system is achieved in design stage of system.
Table II: Represents tensile strength and maximum stress of various components of MCCB mechanism
Sr.
No.

Name of Components

Tensile strength

Max. stress

Upper link (UL)

2000

345.577

5.787

Lower link

2000

117.479

17.024

Latch link (LL)

2000

92.4376

21.636

Fork

2000

507.545

3.940

28

FOS

ISSN: 2319-5967
ISO 9001:2008 Certified
International Journal of Engineering Science and Innovative Technology (IJESIT)
Volume 2, Issue 4, July 2013
5

Floating pin

790

82.872

9.532

Latch Bracket (LB)

585

59.367

9.853

LB pivot pin

585

36.923

15.843

Trip Plate (TP)

440

9.5511

46.067

TP pivot pin

540

27.196

19.855

10

UL pivot pin

505

37.445

13.486

11

LL pivot pin

420

55.648

7.547

VI. RELIABILITY ANALYSIS

Reliability analysis is carried out by degradation model while analysis consider the stress acting on component is
constant and strength of component is decreasing with respect to numbers of operating cycles. Reliability analysis
is done in three intervals those are 10000cycles, 20000cycles and 30000cycles. The degradation model is used to
calculate degradation in strength of components, which is mentioned in equation (1) to show the calculation and
results one component is selected from mechanism i.e. fork. The results of degradation in strength of fork for
30000cycles is shown in Table III, similarly the calculation is carried out for 10000cycles and 20000cycles. By
same way the degradation analysis is done for each component of MCCB mechanism out of those some selected
components are represented graphical in Fig.1, Fig.2, Fig.3 and Fig. 4 respectively. The sample calculation is
shown below to get the idea of degradation calculation.
Strength of component at timet,
Initial strength of component

Table III: Represents Degradation in strength for constant stress of fork

Sr.
No.

Number of Strength(Y) Stress(X)

cycles

Y-X

Sr. No. Number of

cycles

Strength(Y) Stress(X)

Y-X

2000

507.546

1492.454

17

16000

1158.491

507.546

650.945

1000

1967.49

507.546

1459.944

18

17000

1109.638

507.546

602.092

2000

1923.969

507.546

1416.423

19

18000

1062.237

507.546

554.691

3000

1874.386

507.546

1366.84

20

19000

1016.309

507.546

508.763

4000

1821.106

507.546

1313.56

21

20000

971.8656

507.546

464.3196

5000

1765.542

507.546

1257.996

22

21000

928.9107

507.546

421.3647

6000

1708.641

507.546

1201.095

23

22000

887.4393

507.546

379.8933

7000

1651.079

507.546

1143.533

24

23000

847.4403

507.546

339.8943

8000

1593.362

507.546

1085.816

25

24000

808.8978

507.546

301.3518

10

9000

1535.874

507.546

1028.328

26

25000

771.791

507.546

264.245

11

10000

1478.915

507.546

971.369

27

26000

736.0956

507.546

228.5496

12

11000

1422.722

507.546

915.176

28

27000

701.7842

507.546

194.2382

29

ISSN: 2319-5967
ISO 9001:2008 Certified
International Journal of Engineering Science and Innovative Technology (IJESIT)
Volume 2, Issue 4, July 2013
13

12000

1367.478

507.546

859.932

29

28000

668.827

507.546

161.281

14

13000

1313.332

507.546

805.786

30

29000

637.1922

507.546

129.6462

15

14000

1260.396

507.546

752.85

31

30000

606.8461

507.546

99.3001

16

15000

1208.76

507.546

701.214

From degradation analysis is observed high degradation in strength of component. But till 30000cycles the strength
of component is greater than stress acting on component so there is less chance of component failure. After
calculation of degradation for various components to calculate reliability some more calculation is required like
calculate mean of strength, standard deviation of strength those calculations are shown below for fork which is the
component of MCCB mechanism. Now for 30000cycles data is obtained for component fork that is shown in
Table.III that data is used to calculate the mean and standard deviation of strength of fork similarly for other
components of mechanism the mean and standard deviation is calculated for 10000cycles, 20000cycles and
30000cycles respectively by same method, from those results the failure probability and reliability is calculated for
operating cycles those results are shown in Table IV also same results shown graphically in Fig. 5. Reliability is
calculated with the help of equation (3) which gives reliability of component

where ,
x = 507.546

Fig.1 Degradation analysis for fork

30

ISSN: 2319-5967
ISO 9001:2008 Certified
International Journal of Engineering Science and Innovative Technology (IJESIT)
Volume 2, Issue 4, July 2013

Fig.2 Degradation analysis for upper link

Fig.3 Degradation analysis for Latch link pivot pin

31

ISSN: 2319-5967
ISO 9001:2008 Certified
International Journal of Engineering Science and Innovative Technology (IJESIT)
Volume 2, Issue 4, July 2013

Fig.4 Degradation analysis for Floating Pin

Table IV: Reliability of MCCB components for various cycles
Sr. No.

Name of component

R(10000)

R(20000)

R(300000)

Upper link (UL)

1.00025

0.999954

0.979812

Lower link

1.00025

1.00023

0.995804

Latch link (LL)

1.00025

1.00025

0.995011

Fork

1.00025

0.99863

0.953701

Floating pin

1.00025

1.00019

0.99084

Latch Bracket (LB)

1.00025

1.0002

0.991275

LB pivot pin

1.00025

1.00013

0.994705

Trip Plate (TP)

1.00025

1.00025

0.997053

TP pivot pin

1.00025

1.00024

0.995554

10

UL pivot pin

1.00025

1.00023

0.993864

11

LL pivot pin

1.00025

1.00013

0.987265

Reliability of MCCB mechanism is depends on the components of mechanism so if any one component of
mechanism is failed then mechanism failed to perform their desired functions, from this it is concluded that the
mechanism followed the series configuration which is explained below by calculating reliability of mechanism for
30000cycles similarly the reliability of mechanism is calculated for 20000cycles and 10000cycles which is shown
graphically in Fig. 6

32

ISSN: 2319-5967
ISO 9001:2008 Certified
International Journal of Engineering Science and Innovative Technology (IJESIT)
Volume 2, Issue 4, July 2013

Fig. 5 Reliability representation of various components

Fig. 6 Reliability representation of MCCB mechanism

VII. CONCLUSION
Reliability analysis of mechanical system in design and development stage is simpler based on SSI model with
degradation analysis. It is conclude that after 30000cycles strength of MCCB mechanism component still greater
than stress acting on component so there is less chance of component failure till 30000cycles. Reliability of MCCB
mechanism for 30000cycles, 20000cycles and 10000cycles are 0.881033642, 1.0004329564, and 1.00275344
respectively. From reliability analysis of MCCB mechanism it is conclude that MCCB mechanism will survival for
minimum 20000cycles without any failure introduced in mechanism. Decision making of MCCB mechanism for
warranty period and maintenance strategy is simpler and accurate from reliability analysis.
REFERENCES
[1] AN Zongwen, HUANG Hongzhong, WANG Zhonglai , ZHANG Xiaoling, and WANG Guibao, Discrete Stress
Strength Interference Model of Reliability Analysis Under Multi-operating Conditions 10.3901/CJME.2010.03.

33

ISSN: 2319-5967
ISO 9001:2008 Certified
International Journal of Engineering Science and Innovative Technology (IJESIT)
Volume 2, Issue 4, July 2013
[2] GUO Song, LIU Tianyi, Reliability bounds determined by improved Monte Carlo method for stress strength interference
system. Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 1994, 33(3): 9398. (in Chinese).

[3] C.J. Lu, W.Q. Meeker, Using Degradation Measures to Estimate a Time-to-failure Distribution, Techno metrics, Vol.
35, No. 2, pp. 161-174, 1993.

[4] K. A. Gajjar, and M .N. Patel, Stress strength reliability under right truncated exponential and power function strength
with normal stress, Statistics and Applications, Volume 7&8, Nos. 1&2, 2009-10 (New Series), pp. 9-16.

[5] Shashi Saxena, Shazia Zarrin, Mustafa Kamal, Arif-Ul-Islam, Computation of Reliability and Bayesian Analysis of
System Reliability for Mukherjee Islam Failure Model, American Journal of Mathematics and Statistics 2012, 2(2): 1-4
DOI: 10.5923/j.ajms.20120202.01.

[6] Nader Ebrahimi, T. Ramallingam, Estimation of system reliability in Brownian stress-strength models based on sample
paths, Ann. Inst. Statist. Math.Vol. 45, No.1, 9-19 (1993).

[7] Chen, Jian Xiong and Yan, Wen Chen, "Mechanical Spring Reliability Assessments Based on FEA Generated Fatigue
Stresses and Monte Carlo Simulated Stress/Strength Distributions" (2004). International Compressor Engineering
Conference. Paper 1693.http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/icec/1693.

[8] W.Q. Meeker, N. Doganaksoy, G.J. Hahn, Using Degradation Data for Product Reliability Analysis, Quality Progress;
Vol. 34, No.6, pp. 60-64, 2001.

34