Performance Evaluation of Underground Mining Machinery: A Case Study

Unexpected occurrence of uneven breakdowns and their consequences have a significant influence on the equipment life. Hence, there is a need to discover the motives for the happening of critical potential failures and required repair or replacement action to control. Reliability analysis is utilized to approximate the performance of the equipment. In this study, the performance of the underground mining machinery known as load haul dumper (LHD) has been estimated with reliability analysis. The best-fit distribution of the data sets was selected by testing the numerous statistical distributions using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test. The percentage of reliability of each subsystem of the LHD machine was computed based on the best-fit approximation. The overall system reliability of the equipment was estimated using a series configuration-based reliability block diagram (RBD) approach. The reliability-based preventive maintenance (PM) time intervals were also computed for estimated 90.00% reliability. To accomplish the desired level of reliability, a review on maintenance programs should be made. Possible recommendations were made to the maintenance department in the industry for improvement in equipment.