Dynamic and gradual coupled reliability analysis of the transmission system of a shearer cutting arm

Abstract

The strong impact and heavy load imposed on the transmission system of a shearer cutting arm is a potential cause of system variation and deterioration. And the overall equipment performance and output efficiency of a drum shearer cutting arm depends to a large degree on the reliability of the transmission system. Therefore, the current study proposes an innovative method for precise prediction of the reliability of the transmission system considering dynamic characteristic and performance degradation. Firstly, for the sake of quantifying the time-dependent reliability with deterioration parameters, a dynamic model of the geared rotor system is established based on the finite element method and the dynamic response is derived based on the main failure mode and the stochastic process model. Then the reliability and reliability sensitivity are estimated based on the probability perturbation theory and the fourth-order moment method. Finally, the proposed method is validated through a comparison to the canonical Monte Carlo Simulation method, which exhibits an average discrepancy of merely 3%. The present method serves as a theoretical guidance and applicable tool for both design and manufacture of coal shearers.