Title: Stochastic modelling and availability analysis of repairable system of a milk processing plant

Authors: Narendra Kumar; P.C. Tewari; Anish Sachdeva

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra-136119, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra-136119, India ' Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar-144011, India

Abstract: This paper describes the performance evaluation of pasteurising system of a milk processing plant in terms of its operational availability. For the stochastic modelling and analysis Markov chains has been applied. Particle swarm optimisation (PSO) technique is implemented for optimising the results obtained. The optimum combinations of failure and repair rates for various subsystems can be useful in decision making such as maintenance priorities, spare parts and repairmen, etc. Based on this, a decision support system (DSS) has been developed which indicates the most critical components of the system that need the utmost care while setting maintenance priorities.

Keywords: availability; decision support system; DSS; Markov chains; particle swarm optimisation; PSO; RAM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSPM.2021.118851

International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling, 2021 Vol.16 No.4, pp.323 - 332

Received: 03 May 2021
Accepted: 11 Jul 2021
Published online: 08 Nov 2021 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article