Estimation of reliabilitybased maintenance time intervals of LoadHaulDumper in an underground coal mine

Reliability estimation plays a significant role in the performance assessment of mining equipment, and aids in designing efficient and effective preventive maintenance strategies. Continuous and random/irregular occurrence of failures in a system could be the main cause for performance drop of machinery. The accomplishment of a projected level of production is possible only by an efficient operation of the equipment. In order to improve the equipment life, a critical analysis of failure/breakdown occurrences is required to be carried out, and appropriate remedial measures need to be designed and implemented to enhance reliability. This paper presents a reliability analysis of LoadHaulDumper (LHD) in an underground coal mine. The goodnessoffit distribution of each LHD was made through the CramerVonMises statistic test. The parameters involved were estimated using both the maximum likelihood analytical estimation process and the graphical process. Further, an attempt was made to reduce the total cost of operation by estimating the reliabilitybased preventive maintenance time intervals.