Investigation on reliability of classical industrial motor drives using GoldSim Monte Carlo reliability workbench

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to propose an extended reliability method for an industrial motor drive by integrating the physics of failure (PoF). Design/methodology/approachIndustrial motor drive systems (IMDS) are currently expected to perform beyond the desired operating conditions to meet the demand. The PoF of the subsystem affects its reliability under such harsh operating circumstances. It is crucial to estimate reliability by integrating PoF, which helps in understanding its impact and to develop a fault-tolerant design, particularly in such an integrated drive system. An integrated PoF extended reliability method for industrial drive system is proposed to address this issue. In research, the numerical failure rate of each component of industrial drive is obtained first with the help of the MIL-HDBK-217 military handbook. Furthermore, the mathematically deduced proposed approach is modeled in the GoldSim Monte Carlo reliability workbench. FindingsFrom the results, for a 15% rise in integrated PoF, the reliability and availability of the entire IMDS dropped by 23%, resulting in an impact on mean time to failure (MTTF). Originality/valueThe integrated PoF of the motor and motor controller affects industrial drive reliability, which falls to 0.18 with the least MTTF (2.27 years); whose overall reliability of industrial drive drops to 0.06 if it is additionally integrated with communication protocol.