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Prioritization of maintenance tasks on industrial equipment for reliability: A fuzzy approach

Edwin Vijay Kumar (Reliability Engineering Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India)
S.K. Chaturvedi (Reliability Engineering Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India)

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management

ISSN: 0265-671X

Article publication date: 11 January 2011

1831

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to prioritize preventive maintenance actions on process equipment by evaluating the risk associated with failure modes using predictive maintenance data instead of maintenance history alone.

Design/methodology/approach

In process plants, maintenance task identification is based on the failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA). To eliminate or mitigate risk caused by failure modes, maintenance tasks need to be prioritized. Risk priority number (RPN) can be used to rank the risk. RPN is estimated invariably using maintenance history. However, maintenance history has deficiencies, like limited data, inconsistency etc. To overcome these deficiencies, the proposed approach uses the predictive maintenance data clubbed with expert domain knowledge. Unlike the traditional single step approach, RPN is estimated in two steps, i.e. Step 1 estimates the “Possibility of failure mode detection” and Step 2 estimates RPN using output of step 1. Fuzzy sets and approximate reasoning are used to handle the uncertainty/imprecision in data and subjectivity/vagueness of expert domain knowledge. Fuzzy inference system is developed using MATLAB® 6.5.

Findings

The proposed approach is applied to a large gearbox in an integrated steel plant. The gearbox is covered under a predictive maintenance program. RPN for each of the failure modes is estimated with the proposed approach and compared with the maintenance task schedule. The illustrative case study results show that the proposed approach helps in detection of failure modes more scientifically and prevents “Over maintenance” to ensure reliability.

Originality/value

This approach gives an opportunity to integrate the predictive maintenance data and subjective/qualitative domain expertise to evaluate the possibility of failure mode detection (POD) quantitatively, which is otherwise purely estimated using subjective judgments. The approach is generic and can be applied to a variety of process equipment to ensure reliability through prioritized maintenance scheduling.

Keywords

Citation

Vijay Kumar, E. and Chaturvedi, S.K. (2011), "Prioritization of maintenance tasks on industrial equipment for reliability: A fuzzy approach", International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 109-126. https://doi.org/10.1108/02656711111097571

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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