Remaining Useful Life Estimation of Mining Equipment – A Case Study B. GHODRATI* and F. AHMADZADEH and U. KUMAR

To ensure the production/output and customer satisfaction in mining sector the estimation of Remaining Useful Life of mining machineries is a prime. In this paper we used the reliability analysis in order to estimate an optimal mining equipment repair/replacement policy by estimating their remaining useful life. The proportional hazard model was used in reliability analysis to be realistic and take the operational influencing factors in calculation. Methods are presented for calculating the conditional reliability function and computing the remaining useful life (RUL) as a function of the current conditions to guarantee the desired output. The model is applied in the hydraulic jack unit of LHD machine in an underground mine in Sweden. A Weibull proportional hazard model (PHM) with time-independent covariates was considered for the hazard function in an illustration of the proposed model. Presented results can be used, e.g. for developing of preventive maintenance plan or replacement intervals based on the conditional probability of failure or RUL.