Maintenance time estimation method in the design phase based on fuzzy v-support vector machine

This paper presents a new estimation method of maintenance time in the design phase based on fuzzy v-support vector machine (Fv-SVM), considering the problems of finite samples and uncertain data in the maintenance time estimation. The maintenance task of product is first decomposed into many elementary maintenance activities. The influence of design factors on product maintenance time is analyzed, and the important design factors which influence the time of single maintenance operation are determined. Then, the design factors are quantified by triangular fuzzy numbers, and a time estimation method of maintenance operation based on Fv-SVM is proposed. The results of the application in maintenance time estimation confirm the feasibility and the validity of the estimation method.