The post AutoQuiz: How to Calculate Uptime for an Automation System first appeared on the ISA Interchange blog site.
This automation industry quiz question comes from the ISA Certified Automation Professional (CAP) certification program. ISA CAP certification provides a non-biased, third-party, objective assessment and confirmation of an automation professional’s skills. The CAP exam is focused on direction, definition, design, development/application, deployment, documentation, and support of systems, software, and equipment used in control systems, manufacturing information systems, systems integration, and operational consulting. Click this link for more information about the CAP program.
a) 99.66%
b) 99.77%
c) 99.86%
d) 99.89%
e) none of the above
The most important measure for production equipment support is operational availability, or “uptime.”
Automation equipment that operates for 365 days x 24 hours per day = 8,760 total possible “up” hours. This equipment gets preventive maintenance for 1 hour every month (12 hours per year), plus additional quarterly preventive maintenance of another 2 hours each quarter (8 more hours per year).
There was one failure that resulted in 6 hours of downtime and a second failure that resulted in 4 hours of downtime. Thus, total downtime for all maintenance was 12 + 8 + 6 + 4 = 30.
The correct answer is A, “99.66%.”
Reference: Nicholas Sands, P.E., CAP and Ian Verhappen, P.Eng., CAP., A Guide to the Automation Body of Knowledge. To read a brief Q&A with the authors, plus download a free 116-page excerpt from the book, click this link.
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