Maintenance Strategy Based on Reliability Analysis and FMEA: A Case Study for Hydraulic Cylinders of Traditional Excavators with ERRS

Abstract

A simple and effective mechanical parts maintenance approach with lower cost is urgently needed by the cost-sensitive manufactures for traditional excavators (HE). This paper proposes maintenance strategy for hydraulic cylinders (HC) of HE with energy regeneration and recovery system (ERRS). Reliability analysis and FMEA of historical failure data are applied to make maintenance strategy. In this study, the failure data required for reliability analysis are collected from the manufacturers and users over two and a half years, Excel is used as statistical tool, Minitab is used for parameter estimation, and Kolmogorov–Smirnov test is used to reject or accept the hypothesis of the distribution model. The reliability parameters R(t), Rset, and R∗(t) are determined and parameter β∗ is the reference value for making countermeasures and maintenance policies properly for the failure modes of the new HC of HE with ERRS. The purpose of this paper is to make proper maintenance policies and to maintain a high availability level and fulfill the user’s needs for HC, which also paves the way for further reliability study about ERRS.