Reliability, maintainability, and availability analysis of a computerized numerical control machine tool using Markov chains

Abstract

eliability, maintainability, and availability analysis of Computerized Numerical Control Machine Tools (CNCMT) is vital as they are widely used in manufacturing industries for mass production. This paper proposes a generalized framework for Time- Between-Failure (TBF) and Time-To-Repair (TTR) data analysis, integrated with Markov chains for estimating the system’s Steady State Availability (SSA). A case study of a typical CNCMT illustrates the applicability and the effectiveness of the proposed framework. The effect of variation of sub-systems' failure and repair rates on the availability of the CNCMT is studied. The critical sub-systems from reliability, maintainability, and availability point of view are identified. The analysis reveals that the CNCMT’s failure and repair rates are nearly constant and the CNCMT fails four times per year. The Lubrication Sub-system (LS) is the utmost severe sub-system as far as maintainability aspect is concerned and Turret Sub-system (TS) is the utmost severe sub-system from a reliability perspective