System to improve predictive maintenance and warranty cost/price estimation

A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for predicting a maintenance schedule for a system comprising a plurality of components and estimating a cost for warranty service of the system, the method steps comprising:

• collecting real-time component usage data for each of the plurality of components;
• obtaining component reliability data for each of the plurality of components;
• constructing a component life distribution module (CLDM) for each of the plurality of components based on the real time component usage data and the component reliability data for each of the plurality of components;
• obtaining from each CLDM a mean time to fail for each of the plurality of components;
• selecting a system life distribution model (SLDM);
• inputting the mean time to fail for each of the plurality of components into the SLDM to obtain an operating environment index for each of the plurality of components that represents the effect of environment conditions on the lifetime and reliability of each of the plurality of components;
• and
• predicting a maintenance schedule and calculating an adjusted cost of warranty service based on the operating environment index for each of the plurality of components.

A system of predicting a maintenance schedule for a system comprising a plurality of components and estimating a cost for warranty service of the system, the system comprising:

• means for collecting real-time component usage data for each of the plurality of components;
• means for obtaining component reliability data for each of the plurality of components;
• means for constructing a component life distribution module (CLDM) for each of the plurality of components based on the real time component usage data and the component reliability data for each of the plurality of components;
• means for obtaining from each CLDM a mean time to fail for each of the plurality of components;
• means for selecting a system life distribution model (SLDM);
• means for inputting the mean time to fail for each of the plurality of components into the SLDM to obtain an operating environment index for each of the plurality of components that represents the effect of environment conditions on the lifetime and reliability of each of the plurality of components;
• and
• means for predicting a maintenance schedule and calculating an adjusted cost of warranty service based on the operating environment index for each of the plurality of components.