Reliability centric maintenance (RCM) for automated mining machines

Purpose and goal
The purpose of the research project is to study the ability to apply Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) in automated mining machines. The goal is to improve the reliability and availability of automated mining systems by preventing unexpected failures and optimising predictive maintenance to achieve the safety with lowest life cycle cost using the RCM methodology.

Structure and implementation
The project will provide a practical decision support tool for maintenance planning for managers of automated mines. Based on the final result, meetings will be held within three months with industry partners to discuss it. The opportunity to implement the developed framework will be evaluated at that time. Finally, after the evaluation process, industry partners will be offered the opportunity to launch a full-scale project to implement the developed framework for automated mining machines, for example LHD or drilling machines.

Expected results
The project results will be used in a comparative study to configure the most important RCM parameters, to clarify the pros and cons of different maintenance models and technologies. The project is being finalised by developing a framework for RCM implementation for automated mining machinery to create a cost-effective operation and maintenance strategy. The proposed framework will provide a number of tools to enable mining engineers and managers to maintain and use automated machines more efficiently.