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Literature Review of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant

Category: Electrical Engineering Paper Type: Dissertation & Thesis Writing Reference: APA Words: 9900
Various maintenance strategies are combined in the frame work of RCM in an integrated manner for increasing the functional probability of a component or system to work effectively it is operating context as per its designed life cycle. These strategies includes the protective maintenance techniques, time directed preventive maintenance, run tofailureand the condition based maintenance. The core purpose of the RCM process is to provide the reliability at the lowest possible cost. However, the RCM process required clear maintenance goals supported by the economic justification and technologies (Abou-Chakra, 2014).

RCM Philosophy of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
RCM Principles and Key Features of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
Following are the key features and principles of the RCM
The first key feature of the RCM is to preserve the function of the system. This sept can be seen in differentaspect as it force a change by replacing the typical view of minting equipment with the functional preservation(Besnard & Bertling., 2010).
The second principle of RCM process is the identification of thefailuremode that caused thefailureof the function. At this step the most critical decision is that whether a complete maintenance plan is required or the modification in operation or design would be enough.
The third principle of the RCM process is to prioritize the main functional failure. This is very integral step of the entireprocess as the philosophyof cost effectiveness is achieved at this step. To support the critical functions of the equipment resources and efforts are dedicated to it whereas, their unavailability leads towards the major degradation of the plant or sometime the complete shutdown (Besnard & Bertling., 2010).
Theforth principle of the RCM process is the selection of effective and applicable maintenance task for the item of high priority. The purpose of item prioritizing is to make cost effective and efficient use of the resources
RCM Components of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant

The following figure shows the component of the program in RCM. From this picture it can be seen that there are various parts in an RCM program for maintenance including; reactive, preventive, proactive active and condition based maintenance(Yssaad & Chaker., 2014).
Figure 3: Component of the program in RCM
Collection of data and selection of system of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
In the RCM process collection of data and system selection has great importance. For this aspect, there is required to critically analyze various types of data to develop a system. It is important because there are great possibilities that the weak system or the failure of the systems major component might leave bad effects on the productivity of the system greatly enhance the cost of the maintenance. Following are some of the significant factors that have direct impact on the system selection(Abou-Chakra, 2014).
1.      Time between the failure which is also present as (MTBF)
2.      Cost of the maintenance
3.      Required time to repair
4.      Availability
Criticality Analysis of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
The working on the nuclear power plant is analyzed by using the tool called as “Criticality Analysis”. It is used to evaluate the failure and it helps to evaluate hoe the equipment’s fails. It helps in evaluating the impacts of the failure on the organizational performance. For the working systematically on the nuclear power plant and to judge the performance checking is done. For evaluation all the assets of plant is checked in order to systematically and the basic purpose is to run the working or functioning smoothly. All the items or equipment’s are prioritized and material is classified at different levels. PM\PdM initiatives taken for the improvement of the development and for the reliability. FMEA\FMECA is required in the nuclear power plant for identifying the basic information. All the equipment’s criticality calculated on the base of algorithm (1) one made on the base of information collected. In the figure 4, calculation steps for the reliability of the equipment’s criticality mentioned and on the basis of those risk factors analyzed(Dodman, 1997).
RCM develop a setup of work according to the provided criteria as the critical risk has been identified are 125 critical risks. The system related to the programs are economical effective. Working and the plant need maintenance on continuous basis. The maintenance program is based on the following steps like (S. KHALID, 2000);
ü  It is based on the identification of the risk critical components.
ü  It is based on determining the maintenance necessary activities for ensuring the reliable operations.
ü  The electrical plant is on step of working and major focused point is to find the “reliability” in continuous working.
RCM Goals and Benefits of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
RCM risk identification and safety implementation team serve on the base of various galas and it help in determining the optimum level of maintenanceschedule or program. For the better efficiency or performance effective strategy is used for the maintenance of the plant and its equipment’s. For RCM program implementation or achieving the goals operational efficiency is increased and the cost of the project is controlled. RCM major goals is safety of the plant in all the situations and benefits for saving the cost. RCM team has to perform in all the crucial system functions and it has to maintenance all the actions. The team of the RCM is most important and beneficial for endeavoring the nuclear power plant system reliability. The functioning of the RCM team or department is maintain on the lowest possible cost. It is very beneficial for the ongoing safety and environmental issues. For the reliability of the project first list of risk has been developed on the base of critical components. The list of the risk components has been developed for the maintenance (RCM) program for ROMCO(Besnard & Bertling., 2010).
Safety of the electrical power plant is the major and basic concern. For this purpose risk components identified from the ROMCO level results. The electrical power plant needs maintenance and safety is ensured within the minimum cost. For the safety and maintenance a criteria is provided to the department and guidance to perform the duties. Maintenance department set a reliability to counter the risks on the plant and divide them according to their characteristics (S. KHALID, 2000).
The major considerations in functioning of the plant perform the safe operation. For smooth working and to save any kind of problem the risk factor is identified and perform the safety functions including the mitigation of accidents. For the next step is to provide the support system for identifying the functions. It also includes the components of failure and accident or transient for safety challenges. Different kinds of methodologies used by the RCM department of identify the risks or failure components are as (Abou-Chakra, 2014);
ü  Fist analysis of the plausible failure moods,
ü  Risk critical components identification,
ü  Defining the level for maintenance activities
ü  Possible solution to mitigate the failures
ü  Incorporated all the risk and reasons into the RCM program
System and its Boundary of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
For the better understanding of the RCM functions and the RCM methodology for resolving the key issues or problems it is need to understand the related terms. For better functioning it is important to know the system definitions related to RCM and nuclear power plan functioning.
Systems of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
In the nuclear power plant functioning it is better to understand the basic system of working or process. All the systems for working in organization, company, firm or on plant is based on three components. These three components of system includes the followings like,
ü  Input
ü  Process or system
ü  Output
The system on the power plant is a kind of model that represents the specific rules or regulation. System start or began form the step of “input” and the middle point is the “Process or system”. On the last of the system or model is the output or the result of the working and it may be the performance or efficiency of the plant (Besnard & Bertling., 2010).
Complex System of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
On the industrial level working it follows the complex system on the plants. Plants or industrial systems are always considered the most complex system according to nature. Complex systems means that it have various kinds of challenges or dangers or life threats. Complex system is adopted for the safety of the nuclear power plant. In nuclear power plants it need more care (Abou-Chakra, 2014).
Modeling a Complex System of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
Complex systems are possible to be made up of many major systems by character which are included of more simple working components down to relative elements for example capacitors, pulleys, buttons, gears and resistors etc. The system block diagram shows the basic design and terms which are used for modeling a complex system. A complex system is meant a power plant in the diagram (Abou-Chakra, 2014).
The highest level shows the plant which has the highest scope, after that a lot of systems which have smaller scopes can be seen in the diagram. A plant or complex is obtained by the addition of all these systems. Each system consists some components and accordingly each of the components has its own functions in comparison with the system. The components are said to be the basic structure or the building blocks of a complex system because these components provide the important functions to the system.
There are three basic elements which keep the system operating. Which are known as material, information and the energy. The basic motive of the system is to change these three elements. On the basis of these three elements we can classify main functional elements (Besnard & Bertling., 2010).
·         Data
·         Signal
·         Material
·         Energy
A system can produce, distribute and transmit the signals which are used in sensors. It also can convert the data to other forms which are required by the users. A system can also provide support for a system which means it can change the shapes and designs of the materials. Energy is provided to the system. All these components are physical shape of these elements. Furthermore, all these functional elements can further be divided into six categories which are electro-mechanical, thermo-mechanical, electronic, mechanical, electro-optical and software. The most small and lowest level in a system includes as the parts. These parts are required to hold the other components in system and may not provide proper functions to the system. For example transistors, resistors, gears, ropes, pulleys, coils and mirrors are the parts used in the different categories which are discussed above (Besnard & Bertling., 2010).
Maintenance in RCM of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
Maintenance is a process of keeping something in its original condition by taking good care of it using steps like to avoid something to break and bringing something back to working if it was broken or not working properly. By doing a regular preventive maintenance you are confirmed that your equipment and machines remains to operate under safe and sound conditions both for the operator or worker and the machine itself. Possible issues or problems can be fixed in time before they cause some harm. With regular maintenance comes with maximum efficiency of the machine and it also increases the life span of the machine or equipment. Small regular maintenance do consumes some time but it saves us the actual time waste of the breakdown of the machine if it get broke, so it take less time than emergency repairing or replacements of new parts, by maintaining them regularly we can use the original parts for long time.
According to the research conducted by Moubray (2015) now the reliability centered maintenance also known as RCM is an approach of industrial betterment, which is mainly focused on the identifying and establishing the maintenance, operational and capital improvement strategies and problems occurring that will manage or lessen the risks of equipment failure very efficiently. With the applications of the RCM principles, maintenance is calculated and applied in a logical manner that gives the best benefit to a system’s owner. The objective of RCM is to achieve reliability and best performance for all the operating modes of all parts of the plant or its components and equipments at a reasonable cost. Although there are number of applications of reliability centered maintenance RCM but the 7 basic applications which are mostly used in all procedures are:
1.      Analysis preparation 
2.      Analyzing the equipment
3.      Pointing out functions
4.      Indentify functional breakdown
5.      calculating the effects of breakdowns
6.      finding the reasons of failure
7.      choose maintenance steps
The main advantage of RCM approach is that the fundamental favorable position of a RCM approach is that future Preventive Maintenance based errands or RBI  arranging in view of RBM will be liable to objective and precise audit, which enables assets to be allotted to the most elevated hazard territories first. This method avoids a lot of extra money on manpower and financial assets, resulting in more accurate usage of the overall audit and maintenance budgets, and development of plant safety and reliability levels. (Moubray, 2015)
Background of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
            According to the research conducted by Abou-Chakra (2014) focused on the RCM (Reliability Centered Maintenance) derived in the industry of airline in the late 1950’s the money used for the maintenance tasks in the industry had become very big to place a new audit to check the purposes of these tasks. So, around 1960, a team was created which consist auditors of both the audit team and the airline employees to find the powers of a preventive maintenance. The making of this team finally guides to a new number of steps and rules for airlines and aircraft manufacturers to use, so in this was RCM was formed and now it is using many different fields such as RCM for power plant.
Plant security and improvement is achieved by the RCM of the plant’s components. RCM of the parts of the plant also decreases the cost of maintenance of the plant. At present time the reliability centered maintenance is under the process for ROMCO (Rabigh Operation Maintenance Company). This will help the department of maintenance to provide guidance and help for the development of RCM program for the risk critical elements. The main and the only objective of RCM is to provide an powerful set of procedure for auditing the parts which are considered to be the risk critical components, as the objective and purpose is based upon risk (Abou-Chakra, 2014).          
            According to the research conducted by Braaksma, Klingenberg, & Veldman (2013) the primary principles of RCM are:
1.      It seeks to save system or machine function. Dismissal of function through various equipments, improves functional reliability but it increases the life span cost in terms of new equipment or its parts and the operation cost. So it is a function oriented task.
2.      RCM is mainly determined on the system. It concerns in taking care of the whole system than single parts of the function or process.
3.      Reliability centered maintenance works with failure causes in a real order. The connection between the time of operations and the breakdowns is important. RCM is not only concerned with simple breakdown rate but it also finds to know the chances of deficiency at certain ages.
4.      RCM is used for safety and cost saving, there is no compromise on safety at any cost therefore cost capability becomes the criteria.
5.      RCM deals with 3 types of the maintenance tasks:
a) Time directed.
b) Condition directed.
c) Failure finding (Braaksma, Klingenberg, & Veldman, 2013).
RCM program maintenance actions of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
            The RCM aims are to point the most economical and workable maintenance steps to lessen the factor of risk and chance of breakdown in equipments and systems. This let the systems and components usage to maintain in the best cost effective way. The main actions are:
1.      Perform no maintenance, in this type of maintenance it assumps that collapse can occur in any part, and that a is not damaging to the operation. When it experiences high failure rates,huge quantity of extra time, and inventories in big amount becomes familiar.
2.      Regular timed audits is an essential part of the preventive maintenance, lubrication, cleanings and replacement of parts and process. PM is also known as time saving process.
3.      Predictive maintenance and monitoring are parts of the CBM. It measures the trend of the performance of the plants by using different techniques. The maintenance is replaced with the randomly timed maintenance tasks. Before the big breakdowns, the continuing analysis of plant’s condition lets us for planning and fixed maintenance tasks or simply repair it before the failures.
4.      The equipment or the parts of the plants are desgined again if all the above tasks fails to finish the risk than can convert into any major breakdown at any time costing the industry big time. Sometimes risk carrying part is just removed or replaced by a new one.
RCM Components of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
 
These are the basic steps or guidelines which are formed during the first investigation and are arranged as reactive about the small items, non critical components or parts of the machines or the process steps which are unlikely to fail. Preventive is the next step in which preventive maintenance takes place and all the mandatory precautions are taken by regular maintenance of the all the parts. Predictive Testing and Inspection of all the possible failures and than the proactive approach is used in which actions are taken before any harm can cause, so all the risk critical components or process are maintained before the hazard happened.
Objective of RCM of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
            According to the research conducted by Fischer, Besnard, & Bertling (2011) the main and the basic objective of applying the RCM in an industrial plant is to increase the life of available plants, equipments, components and processes and reduce its maintenance cost. It is a corporate level maintenance strategy, these strategies are used for the plant to maintain it using cost effective maintenance techniques (Fischer, Besnard, & Bertling, 2011).
Critical analysis of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
            According to the research conducted by Dodman (1997) the RCM is based on critical analysis and failure analysis most importantly. Those failures that are already happened are than used as a reference to never let the same thing happened again, because that can have serious consequences. During the failure analysis, these questions will must be asked (Dodman, 1997).
1.      How each equipments fail?
2.      What is the cause of each failure?
3.      What are the functions and operation standards in each system?
4.      What are the consequences of each failure?
5.      How can we prevent them?
6.      What to do if you cannot avoid a failure?
These are some of the important questions that will be asked after every failure and we should know these all before the failure so that the failure will never happen again.
Definition and Background of Maintenance
According to the research conducted by Yang, Tavner, Crabtree, & Y. Feng (2014) Maintenance is drive from the word of maintained. Maintenance is a process by which we can keep our things in good form and its quality, proper maintenance always keep the things in best shape and its quality and there is no chance of damage or disorder of the object or thing. During the 18th century, when the revolution in the industries begins, many roads, canals and railway tracks were built for the better development of the industries. This development required the much time and cost to maintain the overall process which then come in different forms (Yang, Tavner, Crabtree, & Y. Feng, 2014).
According to the research conducted by Smith (1993) the Europe industries are rebuilding after the World War 2. The competition in market is going to develop and this factor increase the labor cost, the machinery of the production are also developing and increase the productivity rate. The concept of maintenance is developed and the manufactures were focusing on the changing the concept of the maintenance and upgrade it. Most of the industries try to develop the sense of the maintenance and realize its importance. In the industrial field, maintenance means to keep the functional body or plant upgrade which give better performance, handling all technical issues, manage the and administrate all the issues during the life cycle of the plant or functional body (Smith, 1993).
Maintenance Strategies of Reliability Centered for Power Plant
According to the research conducted by S. KHALID (2000) the maintenance strategy is process or method to achieve maintenance objectives and goals. The colossal mechanical advances in the course of recent decades have prompted a more prominent spotlight on building up the customary ideas of upkeep all together not exclusively to increment efficiency yet additionally to upgrade the dependability of generation frameworks through finding contrasting options to the conventional ideas.
Maintenance in the industry is very important. This will keep the best efficiency of the plant and its functions and also deliver the best product with great quality. Maintenance cannot be done without proper planning and strategies and guideline. The strategies of the maintenance play very important role in achieving organizations objectives and goals by providing the best quality product, reducing the time of delivery and maintain a good price of the product that will attract new customers and also fulfill their demands and needs. Maintenance strategies are very important to achieve the maintenance (S. KHALID, 2000).
Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)
According to the research conducted by Fraser, Hvolby, & Watanabe (2011) reliability centered maintenance (RCM) is a process which helps in the determination of the maintenance requirements of the assets and its functions so that the assets keep working good and provide excellent quality products. RCM helps in improve the reliability of the properties and functioning industries plants. This factor increases the importance of the maintenance and also increase the maintenance cost as a results we get better shape of the physical assets (Fraser, Hvolby, & Watanabe, 2011).
According to the research conducted by Fraser, Hvolby, & Watanabe (2011) RCM is a technique which was developed in 1960 for the first time in the aircraft industry for the replacement of the preventive maintenance. It relies upon the hypothesis of counteracting potential disappointment which could have genuine results and began in reaction to the overwhelming increment in support costs following the presentation of wide-body planes, which made the avionics industry uneconomical. When peoples start knowing about the RCM technique they find out that this technique really saves much money of maintenance and ensure the availability of the asset in the good condition which is ready for the production with its full capacity and great quality.
Many industries start using this method.RCM techniques also give us information of the failure estimation and what are possible ways by which any failure happen in the process or functioning plant in the industry (Fraser, Hvolby, & Watanabe, 2011). RCM can be summarized as a working procedure of the preventive maintenance and can provide the answer of the questions which preventive maintenance is unable to answer such as:
·         What are the operating procedures and functions which a functioning plant performing?
·         What possible failures can happen in the functions?
·         What are the possible causes of the function failures?
·         What possible can happen if a functional failure happens?
·         What are the impacts of the failure?
·         What are the protective methods could be used to prevent the failure?
·         What are the alternatives if a protective procedure is not available?
According to the research conducted by Albarkoly & Park (2015) RCM technique is the combination of the all the maintenance strategies such as preventive, reactive and proactive strategies. RCM provide collective results of all the maintenance strategies and can achieve the highest level of reliability of the asset or the plant equipment and all the components of the industry. The RCM techniques reduce the cost of the maintenance by giving the information about, what are the features which needed to maintain first and priorities the maintaining schedules.
            RCM is a modern and best technique for maintenance and it required a fully organize and operational program for maintenance. These programs are arranged on the basis of priorities of the equipments whose maintenance needed to be done. RCM also help us to gather the labor and financial investment according to the importance of the functional plant or equipment and also provide the information about the risks and loses which are caused by the failure in the functional operation, so these strategies can be helpful in increasing the efficiency of the equipments by improving the reliability of the functional plans and equipments (Albarkoly & Park, 2015).    
Screenshot (5).png
Figure 4: Protective Procedure
 
Process of RCM of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
According to the research conducted by Adoghe, Awosope, & Ekeh (2013) RCM is an essential part of the operation and maintenance program. The implementation of the RCM involves any changes in the system of the established policies of the industry. These changes will be tested first and its results should be monitor carefully to avoid future problems and issues. RCM efficiency depends on the time when it is implemented and in what steps we involve its applications (Adoghe, Awosope, & Ekeh, 2013). There are six basic step of the RCM process:
Ø  Preparation
Ø  Analysis
Ø  Task selection
Ø  Task comparison
Ø  Task comparison review
Ø  Records
Preparation of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
According to the research conducted by Dekker (2005) the preliminary stage has various advances which essentially include the determination of the frameworks to be dissected, assembling the essential information for the examination. Moreover the guidelines or criteria to be utilized as a part of the choice and investigation process must be set up. As for the demonstration we can say that key assumptions, critical evaluation criteria, non critical evaluation criteria and development of the process for review (Dekker, 2005). Preparation step can be further summarizing in to following steps:
·         System selection
·         Definition of the system boundaries
·         Acquisition of documentation of the materials
·         Interviews and plant personnel
System selection of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
According to the research conducted by Márquez, Tobias, Pérez, & Papaelias (2012) the initial steps which involved in the process of the RCM are collection of information and data, drawings of the operational plant design, experienced persons and labor that have total information about the equipment and the authorities who makes decisions for the process. Likewise choice and survey criteria must be built up to guarantee that the endeavors of authority plant faculty are all around focused and utilized profitably all the while. The implementation of the criteria allows analyzing the outsets that there is chance of the value addition in the process of the system and the results can enhance the reliability. If this is not happening in that case then we should try to change the system with other alternatives (Márquez, Tobias, Pérez, & Papaelias, 2012).
Definition of the system boundaries of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
According to the research conducted by McMillan & Ault (2014) when we are applying the RCM process it is important to define the boundary of the system. Mostly plant coding system used but sometimes it is incomplete so before review the process of the RCM makes sure that everything is in order and included in the system boundary (McMillan & Ault, 2014). The team who in analyzing the process should have all the latest information about the plant and its drawings which ensure that what is wrong and what should be done to accurate the process.
System boundaries usually lined as:
Mechanical: system boundary in the mechanical line include all the moving parts and the rotating parts of the equipments, it also include the static parts of the equipments.
Electrical: it includes all the sources of the electrical power, and also all the electrical parts of the equipments. It also include electrical power source, circuit breakers and control supplies and everything electrical associated with them.
Control and instrumentation: it includes the systems which have control or power on the functions of the equipments and which are used to alter the equipment process. For the demonstration we can say that, pressure controller such as valve, for level control we use Rota meter, for electrical supplies we use switches and circuit breakers (Ghorani, Fotuhi-Firuzabad, Dehghanian, & Li, 2015).
According to the research conducted by Idhammar (2005) a complete analysis is made weather which components should be included in the system boundary and which components should be excluded from the system boundary. There is no specific methodology or technique which can be used for this analysis; it is completely based on the judgment and experiences so that the results of the analysis come as effective and authentic (Idhammar, 2005).
 
Acquisition of documentation of the materials
According to the research conducted by Yssaad & Chaker (2014) in this step we gather all the information of the operational manuals of the process of the equipments. First of all it is important to collection the maintenance history of the plant, so we get the idea why the new issue happens and what are the weakness in that maintenance. Different block diagrams of the systems such as piping, electrical circuits, mechanical parts and specially drawing of the plant. RCM program focus on the maintenance including; reactive, preventive, proactive active and condition based maintenance (Yssaad & Chaker., 2014).
Interview and Plant Personnel of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
According to the research conducted by Sallak, Schön, & Aguirre (2010) the interviews are conducted when there is no proper record and documentation of the plant equipments. These interviews are conducted with the plant personnel operators who supervise and operate the plant on daily bases. They are highly experienced and professional. Each department such as mechanical, electrical, system control and instrumentation are responsible for their part of work and answer for it. Engineers, supervisor, workers all are included in the interview to collect every valuable information from them (Sallak, Schön, & Aguirre, 2010).
According to the research conducted by Mkandawire, Ijumba, & Saha (2015) times for the interviews are scheduled and the availability of the every staff members should be considered. Analysis mostly based on the interviews of the all the members such as engineers of every department electrical, mechanical, instrumentation and control and operating engineers (Mkandawire, Ijumba, & Saha, 2015).
These interviews are the part and important feature of the RCM process. This activity promotes the team work and also increases the productivity of the work and there is chance of the time saving in the process of the RCM.
 
Analysis of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
According to the research conducted by Ribrant & Bertling (2007) when the system is selected and all the initial preparations are done, now it’s time for the analysis. Experience in the process of the analysis is very important because it increase the chances of the effective decision making. These experiences can be hired or already present in the industry which can be utilized for this special occasion. The initial data which is collected may be have incomplete information and knowledge, it is important to utilize local staff and the experience hired peoples who has great experience in RCM process (Ribrant & Bertling, 2007).
The first step in the process of analysis is to gather a highly experience team which provide suitable suggestion and solution s according to their experience and qualifications. Stages which are involved in the analysis process are:
·         Identification of System Functions
·         System Functional failure analysis
·         Equipment identification
·         Reliability and Performance Data collection
·         Identification of failure modes
·         Identification of failure effects
·         Determination of Component Criticality
Identification of system functions of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
According to the research conducted by Mian (1999) plants equipments usually have one or more functions which are their responsibility to perform. The main purpose of the maintenance is to makes sure that equipments are performing their functions in their best performance and efficiency. In the first of the analysis in the process of RCM is to define the function of the selected equipments. Simple block diagrams will be helpful for this activity and provide the basic information of the functions (Mian, 1999).
            Equipments usually refer their names by their functions, such as distillation unit, condenser, and extraction pump. Sometimes it is difficult to define the second function of the specific equipment but it is very important in the process of RCM.
System functional failure analysis of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
When functions are defined, there must be a failure with one of the function. This failure should be documented with the whole mechanism and how it is happen and what are the outcomes of this failure.
Equipment identification of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
When the analyzing is in process, it is necessary to identify all the equipments whose failure leads to the whole functional failure. This can only happen when you follow the path of the function. In this activity all the mechanical and its parts should be included such as pumps, valves, filters, vessel and heat exchangers. In the same method electrical equipments and their parts are also included and identified.
All the equipments are indentified with their unique applications which are performing within the system. This will help in analyzing the all the important information of the equipments and their reliability data.
 
 
Reliability and performance data collection of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
The analysis of the RCM process are based on the information provided by the manufacture data and the all the history of the plant. All the activities of the plant, condition monitoring, inspecting and all the maintenance activities which are in process help in building future data. The analyst should also ensure the complete of the data information which is collected from the future actions.
Identification of the failure modes of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
According to Bertling, Allan, & Eriksson (2005) Failure modes are the fail in the operation of the component of the equipment such as failure of the pump to stop or start, failure of the valve to close or open, these are consider as a failure modes. This statement is mostly used in the reliability to describe the failure modes. The experts which are working on maintenance further collect the information about why this failure happens. Well in case of the pump, we can say that switch gear defect happen and in case of the valve, there was a problem with the actuator or the spindle.
Identification of the failure effects of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
The experts who are analyzing the failure should provide the information about the effects of the failure on the safety of the plant, personal safety of the staff members, and the effects on the environment and most importantly the effect on the performance of the plant equipment. These effects should be documented and the experts of the analysis should provide the countermeasures to decrease the effects of the failures (Bertling, Allan, & Eriksson, A reliability-centered asset maintenance method for assessing the impact of maintenance in power distribution systems, 2005).
 
 
Determination of component criticality of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
According to the research conducted by Sallak, Schön, & Aguirre (2010) if the component failure result in the great loses of the equipment or damage the plant that will be consider as a critical. In the nuclear power plant the component consider as a critical if the failure can cause one of the following action:
ü  If the failure cause sudden shut down of the plant without the schedule time.
ü  Failure leads to the decrease in the power or efficiency.
ü  When there is a chance of the great safety hazards
ü  When failure cause the great damage of the plant
ü  When the failure leads to disturb the environmental emit limit.
ü  When failure cause a fire.
Non critical components of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
The components which can cause failure but these failures can be tolerated. It the component is still running in the process this may cause in a big failure and after that maintenance should become necessary. There is whole procedure to fine out the non critical components or the run to failure components:
ü  What is the cost of the repairing or replacement if the component keeping running in the system and fail?
ü  What if the component fail cause failure in the critical component.
ü  What if simple maintenance can prevent the degradation of the component
ü  What are the personal safety hazards if the component keeps running in the process and fail?
ü   What are the effects of the fail of the non critical component of the critical components?
Task Selection of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
According to the research conducted by Little, Chilton, Goldman, & Miller (2010) after the completion of the analysis we move to the next step in the process of RCM is to allocate the maintenance tasks to the equipments and its systems which are identified in the process of analysis. Task selection is the key to the proper maintenance which can save cost of the maintenance, by applying specific strategies which result in achieving best maintenance with great results of safety measures, environmental protection and economic goals. The task selection activity use some serious logics and decision making which results in the systematic arrangements:
·         Prevention maintenance
·         Condition monitoring
·         Inspection and functional testing
·         Run to failure
Task Selection Guidance of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
The main purpose of the task selection is to prevent the fail in the functions. There is a guideline which provides us the best criteria to select our task for the RCM process:
ü  Point out the tasks which can provide the information about the failure mechanism.
ü  Make the list of the existing issues related to the reliability
ü  Make the suggestion that can solve the issues related to the reliability and non bearable failures in the process.
ü  Do not try to make relation between the task selection and the maintenance program that are already in process.
ü   Never try to depend on the current maintenance procedures that they will provide the best results after maintenance, failure can be experiences in that cases.
ü  Point out the tasks that will protect from the failure effects not the tasks which try to prevent the failure in the equipment.
ü  Never try to promote the task which has no power to prevent the after effects of the failure in the equipment.
ü  Try to explain the hidden failures (Besnard & Bertling., 2010).
Task selection hierarchy of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
While selecting the task there is a proper hierarchy which should be followed. This hierarchy is made on the basis on reduction in the cost of the maintenance while provide the full information about the reliability and availability. Task selection should be selected on the preference of the following:
ü  Performance monitoring
ü  Predictive maintenance
ü  Non-Intrusive Maintenance
ü  Intrusive Maintenance
ü  Renewal
The selection of the responsible personnel based on the following:
ü  Actions operators may perform as part of normal rounds
ü  Actions operators may perform that are not a part of normal rounds
ü  Actions requiring skilled craft work
ü  Actions requiring minimal craft skill
ü  Time-based intrusive maintenance
The maintenance programs which provide the cost effective results must review the history data if possible. Considering an operator for this job is important because his work is to deal the equipment operation so the daily basis and have all the information about the equipment plant. To get the maximum useful results it is important to consider all the aspects and the departments should take responsibilities of their actions and take part equally in the maintenance programs to achieve the maximum performance of the equipment of the plant (Little, Chilton, Goldman, & Miller, 2010)
Task Options of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
While selecting the task there are some procedures to be consider for specific equipment:
·         Condition directed task of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
For condition directed task to be pertinent, it must be conceivable to identify lessened disappointment protection for a particular disappointment component. The undertaking must have the capacity to identify the potential disappointment condition and there must be a sensible, predictable measure of time between the main sign of potential disappointment and the genuine disappointment. All the more particularly, in any case, while deciding the recurrence for condition observing assignments, the recurrence ought to be predictable with the time interim between the primary sign of potential disappointment and the real time of inability to permit a condition guided errand to be done.
 
·         Time based task of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
Time based task should be selected on the basis on the time priority that is which equipment is needed to maintain first. Time management is the basic concept in this types this type of task. For this purpose the history data of the maintenance and the experienced personnel should be consulted. Now the time is measured in the failure will happen and the time for the degradation of the specific equipment of the plant.    
·         Failure finding task of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
For disappointment observing errands to be material the segment must be liable to a disappointment component that isn't obvious to staff amid ordinary activity of the hardware and there is no other relevant and successful sort of errand to keep the disappointment from happening. Practical tests are valuable disappointment discovering errands for defensive highlights and interlocks. In any case, it must be guaranteed that the test completely checks the component. In the event that a gadget should square activity of a valve or pump begin, ensure this capacity is tried, not only that the input works appropriately.
While deciding recurrence for disappointment discovering errands, thought ought to be given to the expected recurrence of interest, disappointment rate and passable of disappointment. Additionally, it must be recalled that playing out the disappointment discovering assignment may build the measure of wear or debasement in the part, and additionally may put the framework in a perilous or irregular condition.
Task Comparison of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
Task comparison is the important step in the process of the RCM. It is the activity in which we compare the present task selection results with the maintenance activities which are already in process. This comparison give us important information about the changes needed in the process of the maintenance and if there is possibility to control the resources which are used in the process of the maintenance. It also gives us a chance to alter our commitments which will result in better maintenance and better working environment.
To get the maximum results of the comparison it is important to consider all the components which are related to the maintenance planned procedures such as functional tests, operator activities, performance test and preventive maintenance tasks. It is necessary to obtain the authentic information about the performance of the plant from the interview in the case in which previous data in not available or insufficient to monitor and make suggestion about the maintenances tasks. This helps in analyzing the information in the best way and provides multiple suggestions which can used to improve the performance of the equipment of the plant.
Task comparison performance of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
Little, Chilton, Goldman, & Miller (2010) the task comparison is done by the experienced and professional experts who has great knowledge in this field and provide useful information and suggestions:
Retain: already present tasks for the component of the equipment of the plant which suggest the RCM tasks which are same as the task of the preventive maintenance tasks.
Modify: the difference between the preventive maintenance task and the suggestion of the RCM task provide the better task which has more effectiveness if applied.
Delete: replacement of the RCM tasks which are more effective than the previous tasks.
Delete: it is apply to the tasks which has no more use and are unimportant.
Delete: apply to the tasks which have components that will run to fail after the RCM tasks.
Add: the purpose of the new preventive maintenance is to provide the prevention to the components failure which has already present tasks and do not provide better results. But the RCM tasks have the better results and are applicable in every condition and provide the best prevention to the failure of the components (Little, Chilton, Goldman, & Miller, 2010).         
Task Comparison Review of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
It is the activity in which we review the results of the comparison and provide us important information about the maintenance changing programs. These changes are important for the plant as we want the plant equipment to perform well and work on its full efficiency. We make every possible change which is best for the performance of the plant. Comparison of the results reviewed by the experienced and qualified experts who give better suggestion if there is a better alternative for the maintenance. In this step we can make every possible change in the maintenance process and that results in the betterment of the plant and its functions to perform on its full capacity and provide good quality product for the industry (Hernandez-Matias, Vizán, Hidalgo, & Ríos, 2006).
Final phase of analysis of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
According to the research conducted by Hernandez-Matias, Vizán, Hidalgo, & Ríos (2006) he process of the task selection is done and the procedures to review the task selection are completed; now the process of the analysis of the RCM is ready for analyzing. The comparison of the suggested task now provides the information about the planning of the program for the maintenance. The main reason of the comparison is to provide the information about the changes needed in the program which is already in the process. The comparison of the tasks also provides the idea of the difference between the RCM analysis and the preventive maintenance which is already in process (Hernandez-Matias, Vizán, Hidalgo, & Ríos, 2006).       
Records of Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
According to the research conducted by Bertling, Reliability-centred maintenance for electric power distribution systems (2002) RCM process is a useful technique which has possibility to increase the efficiency of the plant equipment with proper maintenance with lost expenditure of the cost. The preparation steps and the analysis based on them and the suggestions which are implemented on the basis of the analysis and give effective results on the operation of the maintenance program. These results and decision and every step change should be documented in the record which will be helpful in the future to manage and arrange new maintenance strategies (Bertling, Reliability-centred maintenance for electric power distribution systems, 2002).
Benefits of the (RCM) Reliability Centered Maintenance for Power Plant
According to the research conducted by Demirbas, Hashem, & Bakhsh (2017) RCM is a great technique for the maintenance of the industry plant. RCM has provided many useful results in the past 20 years and doing great in the present time. It all started with the aircraft industry which use the RCM for the maintenance purpose and get positive results in every aspect such as cost, safety and maintenance. After that nuclear power plants and other oil and gas industry use this method and achieve great results. If the RCM process is properly applied it can reduce the routine maintenance about 40% - 70%. Using the RCM save much cost which is definitely a remarkable approach for the industries and their business, it also give same results with the large firms and industries which has complex units and whose maintenance cost much time and investment (Demirbas, Hashem, & Bakhsh, 2017).
According to the research conducted by Dhillon, (2002) there are many advantages and benefits of using RCM and have positive impact on the safety, configuration, operations and administration. Following are the key benefits of the RCM:
·         RCM process is a great technique which use all the information from the cross discipline.
·         There is a chance we can check the decision making peoples.
·         It provides the better platform to work and have attractive ways
·         It can reduce the routine maintenance by improving the system and its efficiency
·         RCM process definitely reduces the cost of the maintenance and also save much time with its great strategies.
·         RCM provide high quality maintenance plan and have better information about the history plans
·         RCM provide full results in the form documents and have power of managing the system in better way.
·          It reduces the environmental hazards and optimizes the systems.
·         RCM provide team work spirit within the staff members and they learn about the importance of the team work.
·         Team work help in completing the job in less time and save much of the investment.
·         RCM is helpful in identifying the modes of the failure and provide the information about how failure specific failures happen.
·         It provides chances to the staff members to come forward and show their skill in the maintenance suggestions.
·         It provides the schedule for the maintenance for the future to continuous performance of the plant.
·         It provides platform to work all the different departments together and sort out problems and suggest its solutions together.
·         RCM helps in improving the performance of the plant equipments and their efficiencies.
·         It ensures the plant reliability and its availability.
·                     RCM provide better platform to learn about the maintenance, its importance and features which make it important for the better business of the industries (Dhillon, 2002).
According to the research conducted by Besnard & Bertling (2010) there is no proper measurement to measure the benefits of the RCM. RCM is a vast method and its benefits are long term commitment. After the implementation of the RCM its benefits can seen in the future when it provide the plants to perform well and with full capacity and efficiency. The benefits of the RCM only be seen when we have all the access to the reliability data for the equipments which are in the analyzing process and when we are using the preventive maintenance for the routine schedule intervals (Besnard & Bertling., 2010).
The industries which are using plant equipments should need to prepare the real time data and respond to it for the better judgment for the life period of the equipment. It is important to build a good relationship with the RCM to achieve long term benefits by keeping the partnership between the personnel responsible for equipment maintenance and personnel responsible for equipment design.
According to the research conducted by Gabbar, Yamashita, Suzuki, & Shimada (2003) RCM is helpful in every possible way. If there is no data available and poor information which is not enough for the maintenance, but RCM itself can collect all the data and information which necessary for the process of RCM (Gabbar, Yamashita, Suzuki, & Shimada, 2003). RCM provide the best approach and information and define the maintenance which is required for the specific time for the specific equipment. With the help of RCM we get the information about:
·         Failure can have effects on the personal safety, equipment and environment.
·         The failure can alter the production of the equipment.
·         The failure can happen anytime, they are just hidden.
According to the research conducted by Igba, Alemzadeh, Anyanwu-Ebo, Gibbons, & Friis, (2013) RCM provide us the chance to review the previous data and information which is available and recorded after each maintenance process. It gives us information about why the new failure happens, and what are the weaknesses in the previous maintenance. A RCM study will convey dependable advantages for any association that has put resources into noteworthy new advancements. Unmistakable investment funds are created through the diminishment in spontaneous downtime, the shirking of generation misfortunes and a fall in chance based expenses. This sort of study will uncover any holes in the current support technique; also give genuine feelings of serenity that current upkeep methodologies are working (Igba, Alemzadeh, Anyanwu-Ebo, Gibbons, & Friis, 2013).
Utilizing the correct advancements and the correct facilitators, a RCM think about has more extensive advantages for tasks and support groups. It can help general abilities by giving preparing and advancement, and by incorporating RCM programming apparatuses with different procedures for consistent change. These devices can be utilized for long haul gauging of whole armadas of advantages (Igba, Alemzadeh, Anyanwu-Ebo, Gibbons, & Friis, 2013)
The philosophy of RCM is based on the method of system enhancement that enable the management to identify and devise the maintenance and operational strategies in a cost effective manner. In this way the risk of a system’sfailurecan be managed in a cost effective manner. The RCM is very effective for the situationswhere the financial resources are very limited. Moreover fundamentally the RCM is quite different as compare to the other maintenance strategies. The RCM can preserve the function of the system up to the desired level. In simple terms it is a systematic process of defining a planned maintenance program while keeping the cost effective and preserved the critical functions of the plant. Moreover another considerable aspect of RCM philosophy is that it classified the level offailureon the bases of the criticalconsequences(Dodman, 1997). The fundamental objective of this philosophy is the cost effectiveness while channelizing the resources for the high priority tasks. RCM identified required designed and justified maintenance strategies along with the operational modification according to the priority levels. The task of maintenance are selected for preventing the functional failures through maintenance and addressing the causes of such failures. Moreover the RCM operates on the bases of productive maintenance along with the traditions process. The reliability centered maintenance for the electrical power plant is a complex system that is installed at local electrical power plant. The functions are complex and maintenance concept is required to improve the complex system. The concept of RCM can be applied to the reliability factors and the systematic approach includes evaluation, cost of development, design, effective programs of maintenance and supplement programs. For the energy power plant the problems and analysis are linked with the technical operations and reliability of the functioning. 

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