Fault Diagnosis and On-Condition Maintenance of a Combined Heat and Power Unit

Recent economic trends, and growing market competition have necessitated a drift towards highly automated manufacturing techruques. The equipment commissioned in such environments is nore often than not very expensive, sophsucated andintricate. The intricacy oi such equipment makes it prone to failure. Since economic SurVivai is often synonymous with the smooth operation of the equipmentit is imperative that machine down time be kept to a minimum. Consequently, investmentin Diagnostic and Preventive Maintenance systems makes ecOnomic sense. The authors are involved with ongoing research in addressing the problem of consm~cting such a Diagnosric and Maintenance sysremfor a particular client company. The company is involved in the manufaaxre of engine units installed at a range of sites throughout Britain. These units will provide a reliable and economic soum of power, earning revenue from customers for the supply of energy rather than from the original sale of capital equqment. Consequmtiythe cost of maintenance, repair and renewalof eachof the enpiesis to be borne by our client company. It is therefore imperative to their business strategy that maintenance is effectively managed and its cost controlled