Application of Reliability and Maintainability Analysis in Cement Manufacturing Plant

Abstract

With the development of operational research, the study of reliability theory emerged as byproduct in context of different case studies. The words reliable and reliability are in use from ancient time. In fact, these occur frequently in social, political, economical and practical fields to indicate the efficiency of a person or mechanical equipment. A mathematical shape to the word reliability was given later in 1950 with its scientific use for defense purpose. Realizing its importance, the study of reliability theory was developed in the western world. The development of reliability technology in India is an interesting and encouraging history for researchers. The theory of reliability plays an important role, directly or indirectly, in almost all of our daily-life problems. Some of the systems whose reliability is of immediate concern to the society in general are power, transportation, medical care, steel and communication industries, etc. The history of modern engineering reflects that system failures can occur in any field. Industrial accident in Union Carbide, Bhopal, in 1984, and power reactor accident in Chernobyl, USSR, in 1986, are prime examples of complex system failure. The reliability analysis of an industry can helps the management in taking timely decision for its smooth functioning. This can also help the management to understand the effects of increasing/decreasing repair rate of a particular component or subsystem. In order to obtain the maximum output, it is necessary to run each of the unit in good condition, i.e. each part of the equipment of the unit should run failure free. Therefore, in the present analysis, we have focused on the work about reliability, modeling and analysis of some process industrial systems. The failure of a complete system may result in serious consequence. Since automatic systems are being exclusively used these days, their equipment being very expensive, the control is only expedient when the equipment used is highly reliable. Therefore, there is a need to consider reliability as a technical parameter similar to stability, accuracy and to measure it numerically. Reliability and availability analysis can benefit the industry in terms of higher productivity and lower maintenance cost. It is possible to improve the availability of the plant with proper maintenance planning, monitoring and control. The performance parameters identify the critical equipment and the plant management has to set priorities and develop strategies to improve per formability of the plant. The system performance can be quantified in terms of the availability if the operating system is modeled mathematically and analyzed in real working conditions. It can be further optimized by means of some advanced optimization techniques. The basic aim of the present research work is to develop the availability models (under steady-state conditions) and the performance analysis of a paper manufacturing plant concerned.