Reliability centred maintenance in a thermal power plant: a case study

N.S. Bhangu, R. Singh and G.L. Pahuja

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2011, vol. 7, issue 2, 209-228

Abstract: In the era of global competition, almost all the power, processing and manufacturing sectors are required to reduce their overall cost while maintaining the value and reliability of their assets. The electric power utilities are also active in looking for effective ways to improve the economic efficiency. One area, in particular, the equipment maintenance, is being scrutinised for reducing costs while keeping the overall reliable system. The use of reliability centred maintenance (RCM) can help these utilities to develop a systematic maintenance programme to meet these requirements in a cost-effective manner. This paper presents an extensive review of different applications of RCM and is intended as a guide in exploring the feasible areas of successful implementation of RCM to a thermal plant. A case study of the outage review data of a thermal power plant in Punjab has been done to single out vital few reasons of forced outages and feasibility of implementation of RCM has also been discussed.

Keywords: RCM; reliability centred maintenance; thermal power; power plants; Pareto analysis; forced outages; trippings; MEDIC; map measure explore evaluate develop describe implement improve control confirm; availability; downtime; global competition; electric power; power utilities; electricity generation; economic efficiency; equipment maintenance; cost reduction; reliable systems; systematic programmes; cost-effectiveness; review data; Punjab; India; faults; power stations; productivity; quality management. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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