Effect of information on the risk of unexpected failure

Abstract

Condition monitoring (CM,) as part of the Reliability Based Maintenance, is getting more and more popular. With the right systematic approach, this method is proven to increase the productivity of the most manufacturing processes. There is no doubt that when CM helps to find the developing fault and prevents the unexpected failure, it proves to be a good investment. What happens, if the fault doesn't exist? Is this information still useful? How do we estimate the value of this information? How can we use this information in development of the maintenance strategy? This paper has some answers to these questions. Although all these issues are important for any technical objects, the author is investigating the relations between the information and reliability in electrical machines and in induction motors in particular, because they are currently the most popular drives in the industry. The examples are given to demonstrate the approach.