Author : Chandra Mouli, Subbarao Chamarthi, Ravi Chandra G and Anil Kumar V

Dumper is now used as a loading machine for intermediate mechanization in underground coal mining. For survival in the intense competition in the global business environment in recent years it is essential that LHD machine should be reliable and maintained effectively and efficiently. This paper seeks to study the reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) of an 36T dumper machine with failure and repair data by KME method. The constraints and reasons for machine unavailability are outlined. The reliability and maintainability of an LHD and its subsystems are evaluated. Reliability and maintainability of an LHD system are disappointing. There is room to take decisions on optimal maintenance planning and machine improvement from this analysis.

Keywords: reliability, availability, maintainability, LHD, KME.

Article published in International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Sciences 2014, Special Issue-2 (Feb 2014)