Reliability analysis method of a solar array by using fault tree analysis and fuzzy reasoning Petri net

To address the impact of solar array anomalies, it is important to perform analysis of the solar array reliability. This paper establishes the fault tree analysis (FTA) and fuzzy reasoning Petri net (FRPN) models of a solar array mechanical system and analyzes reliability to find mechanisms of the solar array fault. The index final truth degree (FTD) and cosine matching function (CMF) are employed to resolve the issue of how to evaluate the importance and influence of different faults. So an improvement reliability analysis method is developed by means of the sorting of FTD and CMF. An example is analyzed using the proposed method. The analysis results show that harsh thermal environment and impact caused by particles in space are the most vital causes of the solar array fault. Furthermore, other fault modes and the corresponding improvement methods are discussed. The results reported in this paper could be useful for the spacecraft designers, particularly, in the process of redesigning the solar array and scheduling its reliability growth plan.

► FTA and Fuzzy reasoning Petri net (FRPN) models of solar arrays are established. ► Index final truth degree and cosine matching function are used to evaluate faults. ► Reliability of mechanical systems of solar array is analyzed using FTA and FRPN. ► Harsh thermal environment is the most vital cause of the faults for solar arrays.