ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT FOR MINING EXCAVATOR

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 – 6340(Print),
ISSN 0976 – 6359(Online), Volume 5, Issue 4, April (2014), pp. 199-205 © IAEME
199
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT FOR
MINING EXCAVATOR
*Prakash Kumar, **Rajak A.K.
*Assistant Professor, Production Engineering Department, B. I. T. Sindri, Dhanbad
** Assistant Professor, Metallurgical Engineering Department, B. I. T. Sindri, Dhanbad
ABSTRACT
The concept of advanced maintenance management technique in the field of heavy duty
mining machinery/equipment has recently been developed in India. This maintenance concept has
the significance of creating a support system for mining equipment functioning. Functional
maintenance is one of the most frequently used methods in maintenance management for mining
industries. Management of a custom built maintenance system is the need of the day because of large
capital, productivity and risk involved with the mining machinery (excavators) in a high capital
intensive industrial scenario with acute sensitivity in the performance of such machines.
This paper tries to present some aspects related to the systemic approach of the functional
maintenance model, starting from technical elements of the maintenance process to economical
perspective of the maintenance process i.e. maintenance-related expenditure or, in other words, to
develop an effective maintenance methodologies of mining machinery such that the different
maintenance costs are minimized and technical constraints are efficiently monitored and maintained.
Based on the above factors maintenance plans are prepared, formulated and implemented. The final
part of the paper presents a systemic method of representation of the model, taking into account the
two mentioned aspects.
Keywords: Functional Maintenance, Maintenance Management, Economical Aspect, Maintenance
Simulation Model
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The theoretical and practical basis of the need for a mining machinery maintenance system
relates to the following aspects:
• The functional maintenance of mining equipment represents a component of the mines
function, but with independent tasks and responsibilities. A connection must be established between
advanced technologies and equipments maintenance. The economical efficiency of maintenance and
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
AND TECHNOLOGY (IJMET)
ISSN 0976 – 6340 (Print)
ISSN 0976 – 6359 (Online)
Volume 5, Issue 4, April (2014), pp. 199-205
© IAEME: www.iaeme.com/ijmet.asp
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200
interventions activities must be linked to the real mines productivity and the quality of mining
machinery. The functional maintenance model considers mining equipment maintenance as an
integrated function of the mining processes and mining conditions. Technological analysis of the
technology being used relates to two main groups – mines production and maintenance and
intervention technologies for the mining equipments.
Gaps in the correlation between the two technology groups mentioned above can generate
production loss, quality decrease, cost increase and overall efficiency reduction. By using this model,
a strong correlation between the two groups is ensured – applying advanced technologies implies
immediate modernization of the maintenance and intervention technologies.
1.1 Mining activities management, in relation to equipment maintenance and intervention:
For equipment maintenance and intervention, different methodologies are used so that the
maintenance cost is minimized and technical constraints (such as engine, hydraulic and transmission
system, break system, electrical and safety system, suspension and track) are efficiently monitored
and maintained. These technical constraints depends upon many factors such as a) Geotechnical
parameters, b) Geological parameters, c) Mine parameters, d) Production rate, e) Equipment
specification and f) Dig ability assessment etc.
Based on the above factors maintenance plans are prepared for predicting equipment /
component failures.
For component failure detection, which is performed continuously, we can use data similar to
that monitored by protective devices to detect abnormalities in behavior.
This implies the design and implementation of methods and techniques that ensure the
accomplishment of fundamental objectives of functional maintenance such as:
- Recording statistics in relation to technological equipment functioning quality;
- Using new monitoring techniques such as vibration measurement, temperature recording or oil
analysis or, through various sensors.
Design and development of a specific informational system that acts as a synthesis tool that
allows the monitoring of main activities and the assessment of the risk of each scenario. This
subsystem has to keep up-to-date the dashboard of the maintenance responsible by:
- Grouping all relevant information in relation to programmed activities;
- Presenting in a structured manner the information required for technical and economical
analyses;
1.2 by using the new maintenance model in mining, following results are expected:
- Using a preventive/predictive/expert maintenance system that would allow a better monitoring
of current equipment wear, weak spots detection, usage uncertainty and defects prevention;
- Increasing the quality of maintenance and intervention activities;
- Optimal exploitation of technological equipment, according to their technical specifications.
1.3 The Expert System (optimization methods) is based on mathematical / simulation model:
The optimization methods are based on network timeline, simulations, statistical and
mathematical analyses, data mining, genetic algorithm, neural network cost optimization etc:
- Using modern techniques to establish wear degree for different components of sub-components
of the equipment undergoing repair (mechanical, electrical and hydraulic repair).
- Using an operative information sub-system (Expert System) that will take over all information
regarding repairs but that can also provide employees with the information they require.

201
Expert System: This is one of the first systems planned for optimizing equipments in open cast
mining in 1987. The main reasons described for using the expert system were the intense need of
equipment selection process, past expertise, experiences and some of the effective parameters being
qualitative hence; it tried to show the whole process of change of human experiences to an
understandable language for computer in the field of mining equipments maintenance. This system is
able to involve the expert knowledge in primary and secondary maintenance technique of equipment
for open cast mines. In 1990, another expert system, in order to classify equipment, was planned in
the open pit coal mine of Britain with the help of fuzzy logic. This expert system, for primary
extraction method, employed drilling and hauling equipments and could receive geological
information from software like SUPAC and DATAMINE. Data related to mine equipment is
summoned from an external database. The developmental process of expert system continued in
1992, yet another system was planned for equipment needed for a project with soil conditions that
includes 930 rules. This system was able to select equipments necessary for drilling, loading,
hauling, placing and compacting earth and the proposed data consisted of bulldozer, scrapper, loader,
trucks and excavators. For each type of equipment selected, there are unique qualities that must be
considered (such as power, size, application etc.). The developed expert system can be used for
earth-moving projects ranging in scope from 10,000 to 4,000,000 bank cu yd .Yet another expert
system was presented in 2002 that had basic differences with previous ones such as its interference to
the uncertainty related to influential factors in the matter selections. This system was much reflective
and apart from calculating uncertainty ratio, it permitted user to determine the rate of important
elements in selecting equipments. Some other expert systems have also been proposed for
equipments maintenance, in which, proper selection system of functional maintenance are important.
2.0 SYSTEMIC APPROACH ON FUNCTIONAL MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT:
The functioning of technological equipment in specific safety conditions implies: a
technological preparation of interventions based on real and complete knowledge of the equipment
wear, planned monitoring of safety status by periodical technical inspections, professional training of
the personnel etc.
The fundamental components of the functional maintenance model include:
• Management of maintenance and intervention activities;
• The actual technological process of maintenance and intervention activities
• The existence of an information sub-system with a database of processed data that ensures the
connection between the managing system and the managed system.
• Economical analysis of maintenance expenditures and analysis of methods to recover such
expenditures in the course of the production section.
2.1 Evolution based on controlled action:
The evolution of the system in a specific direction under the influence of certain positive
constraints can be adjusted based on control actions such as:
• Planned periodic technical inspection that must aim to detect weak spots of the equipment
undergoing monitoring;
• Operative monitoring of repairs for which there has been a network-graph developed based on
critical path;
• Operative monitoring of capacity loading for the manufacturing of spare parts for the existent
equipments;
• Monitoring the evolution of spare parts consumption;
• Economical analysis of maintenance and intervention costs for each equipment.

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Defect monitoring system
based on expert system
Functional Maintenance
Preventive and corrective
maintainance subsystem
Predictive
maintenance
Spare parts subsystem
Condition based
monitoring system
Planning, preparing, programming, launching and monitoring
activities
Technical inspection based on
electrical, Mechanical and hydraulic
Revisions and repairing Spare parts manufacturing and it
management
Weak spots
discovery
Exploitation
uncertainties solving
Redundant
equipment
Ensuring optimum spare parts
stock based on critical items
check list
Technical Analysis based on Technical
constrains
Dig ability condition, mines safety and mining machinery design
Maintenance System
A
C
Fig-1: Functional Maintenance and repair system design
B

203
The maintenance and intervention system (figure 1): that includes: preventive and
corrective maintenance components, spare parts and defects; programming, preparation and
monitoring of activities; execution of specific interventions; objective controlling; technical analysis
of activity execution.
Efficiency indicatorsExpenditure
budget
Defect repairing cost
/maintenance cost
Economical Analysis
Information sub-system
of the functional
maintenance activity
Defining high
cost
interventions
Expert system based on functional data
Technological engineering
decisional options related to
-Maintainability
-Reliability
-Availability
Advanced maintenance methodology
Monitoring
cost
Economical activities system
Functional maintenance
expenditure monitoring
C
Fig-2: Economical activities system related to the functional maintenance and repair
system design
B
A

204
The economical system (figure 2): that includes: monitoring maintenance expenditures and
including them in the approved budget, identifying intervention with high costs and costs of defects.
The two types of analyses – technical and economical – will lead to the development of an optimum
solution in relation to the decision regarding each equipment maintenance and repair.
Functional Maintenance problem
formulation
Compilation of Computer program
Validation
Definition of the model and data collection and analysis through Data Mining
Technique
Validation
Test run
Analysis of result by an expert system
Planning of computerized experiments
Execution of computerized experiments
Presentation and implementation of results
Fig-3: Functional Maintenance Simulation Model

205
The economical concept of functional maintenance implies that decisions related to
interventions are based on the following criteria:
• Safety of operation, criteria that has no constraints and does not take into account the duration
or cost of intervention;
• Preset budget for maintenance expenditures as well as the cost for interventions has to be
included in the general budget approved by the section management;
• The duration of interventions is variable; thus some interventions can be requested as an
emergency in this case the budget being not set. Optimization requirements are subordinated to
the criteria related to the duration of the respective intervention.
The Model implies in most cases a decision-making process related to maintenance and repair
interventions based on the correlation of the three fore-mentioned criteria.
From an economical point of view, maintenance costs (Cm) depend on a functional level on:
• The duration of the mining equipment in a safety state (Ts);
• The moment of replacing the worn equipment (M);
• The evaluation of the necessary budget for equipment maintenance for its entire exploitation
period (Fe).
The functional relation of expenditure with system maintenance is thus: Cm= f (Ts; M; Fe). A
structuring model for the functional maintenance and intervention model is presented in figures 1
and 2.
Functional Model Simulation model (Figure 3): For optimal solution in relation to the
decision regarding mining equipment maintenance, simulation model must be prepared for final
maintenance analysis.
CONCLUSIONS
In the actual economic context, using modern maintenance models that are supported by an
adequate computerized maintenance management system such as data mining and expert system that
can ensure an increased efficiency of mining equipment. To accomplish this, a significant level of
attention must be given to such maintenance models by the management of the organization.
REFERENCES
1. Adhammar Et.al, Preventive Management/Essential care Condition monitoring.
2. Ceausu I., 2004, Compediu de management, Ed. Academica de Management, Bucuresti.
3. Cucu I., 1999, Managementul activitatii de mentenanta industriala, Ed. Universitas, Petrosani.
4. D.W.Rolston, Principles of Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems Development, McGraw-
Hill, 1988.
5. Fytas. K. Collins, J.L.Flament, Potential applications of knowledge-based systems in mining.
CIM Bulletin, Vol.81, 1988, PP 38-43.
6. Jim Parentzas, A Wab- Based controlled By a Hybrid expert System.
7. Jardine AKS, Maintenance, Replacement &Reliability,Pitman publication.
8. Morrow,L.C., Maintenance Engg. Hand Book, Mc Graw Hill.
9. M.H. Lee, Knowledge Factory, Artif. Intell Engg.
10. Prakash Kumar, Srivastava.R.K, An expert System for predictive maintenance of mining
excavators and its various forms in open cast mining. IEEE Xplore -IEEE Conference
Publication, Print ISBN: 978-1-4577-0694-3, Pg.658-661, Publication Year 2012.
11. R.Keith Mobley, Lindley R. Higgins & Darrin J. Wikoff, 2008, Maintenance Engg.
Handbook, 2nd
edition.

ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT FOR MINING EXCAVATOR

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