Reliability and availability modeling and failure prediction of Kruna Electric Haul Trucks and improvement of current maintenance policies

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Vale's operations in Sudbury are among the largest on the planet, employing approximately 4,000 people. An underground copper/nickel mine located in Sudbury operates aggressively with an annual output of 100 million pounds of copper and 50 million pounds of nickel, in addition to other precious metals. Typically, the ore is blasted underground and transported by means of electrically powered trucks to a hoisting station whereby the ore is lifted to the surface. Failure of these trucks to be in an available state when needed poses a serious bottleneck to the flow of operation and consequently, production. Currently, there are a total of 6 trucks which are used generally-5 of which must be in operation at any time; and 1 undergoing repair. Maintenance personnel are concerned with the effectiveness of the current PM policies and would like to know the effect of current PM policy on the trucks failure patterns-hence availability. Furthermore, any improvements to the current PM policies which would effectively increase truck availability is much desired. The main objective of this project is to develop methodologies for 1) reliability analysis and reliability modeling of AC and DC haulage trucks, 2) reliability analysis and reliability modeling of major systems of AC and DC trucks, 3) downtime and availability analysis of AC and DC trucks, and 4) the prediction of future failures and downtime of the trucks.