Abstract
This paper exhibits the failures of the boiler during the cogeneration process and provides solution to overcome the failures. The failures are frequently occurring in the screw conveyor of fuel-feeding system of the boiler and rarely occurring in the grate of the boiler. In this research work, three important statistical tools are employed to identify and further rectify the failures of the screw conveyor. The different techniques, viz., cause-and-effect diagram, failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), and the Taguchi method have been applied. The cause-and-effect diagram, is the primary tool used to sort out all the possible root causes of the failures. The process parameters that cause the failures in the screw conveyor are identified by FMEA. Since the conventional FMEA has some limitations, fuzzy FMEA is employed. The most critical parameters selected by conventional FMEA and fuzzy FMEA are fuel type, fuel moisture, drum speed, and air flow. Finally, the selected process parameters are optimized by the Taguchi method to prevent the failures occurring in the screw conveyor. Among the various process parameters, the parameter, fuel type, significantly affects the performance of the screw conveyor.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- R :
-
Number of tests in a trial
- y i :
-
Response value of observation in the ith test
- DOE:
-
Design of experiments
- ν :
-
Degrees of freedom
- ν A :
-
Degrees of freedom for factor A
- k A :
-
Number of levels for factor A
- ν required :
-
Total degrees of freedom required
- ν LN :
-
Total degrees of freedom of the available orthogonal array
- N :
-
Number of trials
- ANOVA:
-
Analysis of variance
- M :
-
Overall mean percentage defects
- V Factor :
-
Variance of factor
- SS:
-
Sum of square
- V′:
-
Expected amount of variation
- P :
-
Percent contribution
- μ :
-
Mean
- α :
-
Level of risk
- ν e :
-
Degrees of freedom for the error
- V e :
-
Error variance
- F(α, 1, ν e):
-
F ratio required at the level of risk
- η eff :
-
Effective number of replications
- n :
-
Total number of experiments
- CI:
-
Confidence interval
- T :
-
Average values of defects at different levels
References
A.M. Ghosh, M. Balakrishnan, Pilot demonstration of sugarcane juice ultrafiltration in an Indian sugar factory. J. Food Eng. 58, 143–150 (2003)
M.P. Sharma, J.D. Sharma, Bagasse based co-generation system for Indian sugar mills. Renew. Energy 16, 1011–1014 (1999)
M. Siddhartha Bhatt, N. Rajkumar, Mapping of combined heat and power systems in cane sugar industry. Appl. Therm. Eng. 21, 1707–1719 (2001)
G.R. Lobley, W.L. Al-Otaibi, Understanding boiler tube failures. Saudi Aramco J. Technol. 7–11 (2008)
A.C. Dunn, Y.Y. Du, Optimal load allocation of multiple fuel boilers. ISA Trans. 48, 190–195 (2009)
A. Wienese, Boilers, boiler fuel and boiler efficiency. Proc. S. Afr. Sug. Technol. Ass. 75, 275–281 (2001)
E. Bas, An investment plan for preventing child injuries using risk priority number of failure mode and effects analysis methodology and a multi-objective, multi-dimensional mixed 0–1 knapsack model. Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf. 96, 748–756 (2011)
T. Buksa, D. Pavletic, M. Sokovic, Shipbuilding pipeline production quality improvement. J. Achiev. Mater. Manuf. Eng. 40(2), 160–166 (2010)
M. Boldrin, A. De Lorenzi, A. Fiorentin, L. Grando, D. Marcuzzi, S. Peruzzo, N. Pomaro, W. Rigato, G. Serianni, Potential failure mode and effects analysis for the ITER NB injector. Fusion Eng. Des. 84, 466–469 (2009)
A.C.F. Guimaraes, C.M.F. Lapa, Fuzzy inference to risk assessment on nuclear engineering systems. Appl. Soft Comput. 7, 17–28 (2007)
A.C.F. Guimaraes, C.M.F. Lapa, M.D.L. Moreira, Fuzzy methodology applied to probabilistic safety assessment for digital system in nuclear power plants. Nucl. Eng. Des. 241, 3967–3976 (2011)
M.K. Pınar, Y. Kumru, Fuzzy FMEA application to improve purchasing process in a public hospital. Appl. Soft Comput. 13, 721–733 (2013)
S. Khanmohammadi, K. Rezaie, J. Jassbi, S. Tadayon, Development of failure occurrence model based on fuzzy inference system for control center of power system. Am. J Sci. Res. 38, 131–139 (2011)
S. Khanmohammadi, K. Rezaie, J. Jassbi, S. Tadayon, A model of the failure detection based on fuzzy inference system for the control center of a power system. Appl. Math. Sci. 6(36), 1747–1758 (2012)
S.K. Oraee, A. Yazdani-Chamzini, M.H. Basiri, Evaluating Underground Mining Hazards by Fuzzy FMEA (SME Annual Meeting, Denver, 2011)
M. Oudjene, L. Ben-Ayed, On the parametrical study of clinch joining of metallic sheets using the Taguchi method. Eng. Struct. 30, 1782–1788 (2008)
U. Esme, Application of Taguchi method for the optimization of resistance spot welding process. The Arab. J. Eng. 34(2B), 519–528 (2009)
D. Bajic, S. Jozic, S. Podrug, Design of experiment’s application in the optimization of milling process. Metalurgija 49, 123–126 (2010)
A.H. Suhail, N. Ismail, S.V. Wong, N.A. Abdul Jalil, Optimization of cutting parameters based on surface roughness and assistance of work piece surface temperature in turning process. Am. J Eng Appl. Sci. 3, 102–108 (2010)
T.-S. Li, S.-H. Chen, H.-L. Chen, Thermal-flow techniques for sub-35 nm contact-hole fabrication using Taguchi method in electron-beam lithography. Microelectron. Eng. 86, 2170–2175 (2009)
S.H. Sadeghi, V. Moosavi, A. Karami, N. Behnia, Soil erosion assessment and prioritization of affecting factors at plot scale using the Taguchi method. J. Hydrol. 448–449, 174–180 (2012)
C.-W. Hong, Using the Taguchi method for effective market segmentation. Expert Syst. Appl. 39, 5451–5459 (2012)
I. Kotcioglu, A.C.M.N. Khalaji, Experimental investigation for optimization of design parameters in a rectangular duct with plate-fins heat exchanger by Taguchi Method. Appl. Therm. Eng. 50, 604–613 (2013)
A. Hamdan, A.A.D. Sarhan, M. Hamdi, An optimization method of the machining parameters in high-speed machining of stainless steel using coated carbide tool for best surface finish. Int. J Adv. Manuf. Technol. 58, 81–91 (2012)
C.N. Madu, Competing through maintenance strategies. Int. J. Qual. Reliab. Manag. 17(9), 937–948 (2000)
B.S. Dhillon, Methods for performing human reliability and error analysis in health care. Int. J. Health. Qual. Assur. 16(6), 306–317 (2003)
M. Sen, H.S. Shan, Analysis of Roundness error and surface roughness in the electro jet drilling process. Mater. Manuf. Process. 21, 1–9 (2006)
Z. Zhang, X. Chu, Risk prioritization in failure mode and effects analysis under uncertainty. Expert Syst. Appl. 38, 206–214 (2011)
N. Seliger, E. Wolfgang, G. Lefranc, H. Berg, T. Licht, Reliable electronics for automotive applications. Microelectron. Reliab. 42, 1596–1604 (2002)
I.H. Afefy, Reliability-centered maintenance methodology and application: a case study. Sci. Res. Eng. 2, 863–873 (2010)
K.-H. Chang, Evaluate the orderings of risk for failure problems using a more general RPN methodology. Microelectron. Reliab. 49, 1586–1596 (2009)
K. Ranjbar, Failure analysis of boiler cold and hot reheater tubes. Eng. Fail. Anal. 14, 620–625 (2007)
K. Xu, L.C. Tang, M. Xie, S.L. Ho, M.L. Zhu, Fuzzy assessment of FMEA for engine systems. Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf. 75, 17–29 (2002)
M. Momeni, M.H. Moayed, A. Davoodi, Tuning DOS measuring parameters based on double-loop EPR in H2SO4 containing KSCN by Taguchi method. Corros. Sci. 52, 2653–2660 (2010)
G.J. Tzou, C.C. Tsao, Y.C. Lin, Improvement in the thermal conductivity of aluminum substrate for the desktop PC Central Processing Unit (CPU) by the Taguchi method. Exp. Therm. Fluid Sci. 34, 706–710 (2010)
S. Ebrahimiasl, W.M.Z.W. Yunus, A. Kassim, Z. Zainal, Prediction of grain size, thickness and absorbance of nanocrystalline tin oxide thin film by Taguchi robust design. Solid State Sci. 12, 1323–1327 (2010)
F. Demir, B. Dönmez, Optimization of the dissolution of magnesite in citric acid solutions. Int. J. Miner. Process. 87, 60–64 (2008)
H.K. Kansal, S. Singh, P. Kumar, Parametric optimization of powder mixed electrical discharge machining by response surface methodology. J. Mater. Process. Technol. 169, 427–436 (2005)
H. Singh, Optimizing tool life of carbide inserts for turned parts using Taguchi’s design of experiments. in Approach Proceedings of the International Multi Conference of Engineers and Computer Scientists, Hong Kong, vol. II, IMECS 2008, 19–21 March 2008
F.T.S. Chan, R. Bhagwat, S. Wadhwa, Flexibility performance: Taguchi’s method study of physical system and operating control parameters of FMS. Robot. Comput. Integr. Manuf. 23, 25–37 (2007)
F. Mustaphaa, M. Mustapha, K. Noorsal, O. Mamat, P. Hussain, F. Ahmad, N. Muhamad, S.M. Haris, Preliminary study on the fabrication of aluminium foam through pressure assisted sintering dissolution process. J. Mater. Process. Technol. 210, 1598–1612 (2010)
M. Altan, Reducing shrinkage in injection moldings via the Taguchi, ANOVA and neural network methods. Mater. Des. 31, 599–604 (2010)
F.-J. Shiou, C.-C. Shiou, Surface finishing of hardened and tempered stainless tool steel using sequential ball grinding, ball burnishing and ball polishing processes on a machining centre. J. Mater. Process. Technol. 205, 249–258 (2008)
Y.-T. Liu, W.-C. Chang, Y. Yamagata, A study on optimal compensation cutting for an aspheric surface using the Taguchi method. CIRP J. Manuf. Sci. Technol. 3, 40–48 (2010)
J. Singaravelu, D. Jeyakumar, B. Nageswara Rao, Taguchi’s approach for reliability and safety assessments in the stage Separation process of a multistage launch vehicle. Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf. 94, 1526–1541 (2009)
A.K. Sahoo, M.K. Tiwari, A.R. Mileham, Six sigma based approach to optimize radial forging operation variables. J. Mater. Process. Technol. 202, 125–136 (2008)
A.K. Lakshminarayanan, V. Balasubramanian, Process parameters optimisation for friction stir welding of RDE-40 aluminium alloy using Taguchi technique. Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China 18(3), 548–554 (2008)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mariajayaprakash, A., Senthilvelan, T. Optimizing Process Parameters of Screw Conveyor (Sugar Mill Boiler) Through Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) and Taguchi Method. J Fail. Anal. and Preven. 14, 772–783 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-014-9887-2
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-014-9887-2