Determination of the Technical System’s Operating Time to Failure on the Basis of the Theory of Nonequilibrium Processes and the Principle of Maximum Entropy : as an example of the electrical contacts operation in marine conditions

the article substantiates the method of calculating the operating time before the electric devices of the seaport, under the influence of a set of destabilizing factors on the basis of the principle of maximum entropy production. The occurrence of sudden and gradual failures is an example of processes in which entropy grows, and there is no such process in the theory of reliability that would lead, with its spontaneous development, to a decrease in entropy. The interpretation of the results of applying the principles including the concept of entropy to mathematical models of wear, which are used in the theory of reliability, is given. The results of finding the operating time of electric contacts to failure when exposed to the marine multifactorial environment (as a system with a system-forming bond in the form of entropy) confirm that the use of the principle of maximum production of entropy as a criterion of operating time corresponds to the real values of the operating time of devices, and the principle itself gives a physical representation of the processes.