Abstract
This paper aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) for Diesel Rotary Uninterrupted Power Supply (DRUPS) system in enhancing reliability and performance for a company specialising in currency production. In the currency production, uninterrupted power is important to ensure efficient operations and safety of the product. The company adopted the DRUPS system amid increasing operational demands. The DRUPS plays a critical role in providing a constant power supply to safeguard production against disruptions. To ensure optimum performance of the DRUPS, the company implemented a strategic maintenance approach aimed at moving from traditional reactive maintenance to a predictive maintenance.
Although CBM has been used in numerous industrial sectors, there is minimal study on its applicability and effectiveness in DRUPS systems in South Africa. There has been no systematic study to evaluate if CBM enhances DRUPS performance and reliability in the context of power supply instability. The study employed a mixed-method research approach incorporating vibration analysis and maintenance logs data as quantitative tools, and qualitative data insights were obtained from questionnaire survey and industry experts interviews. The survey consisted of 21 members of the maintenance staff and the interviews had 4 industry experts. The vibration analysis was able to reveal early signs of mechanical anomalies, which enabled actions to be taken before wear and reduced the frequency of system failure. Maintenance log data showed that MTBF increased by 24.9%, while the failure rate decreased by 75.2% after CBM implementation.
The survey evidence indicates that 65% of staff were familiar with the CBM system, 71% reported improved fault detection and reliability, 79% observed enhanced uptime, 80% agreed the system provides accurate decision-making data, 60% noted cost reductions, and 90% recommended its continued or expanded use. this company. The recommendations suggested include expanding CBM to other critical systems and enhancing staff training.