Reliability improvement of compressors based on asset fleet reliability data

Abstract

Physical assets of the process industries include compressors, pumps, heat exchangers, batch reactors and many more. A large company that operates over many sites typically manages such assets in a coordinated way as an asset fleet. Strategic planning of maintenance and scheduling requires information about reliability, availability and maintainability of the assets in an asset fleet.

The work presented in this paper assesses the reliability of centrifugal compressors based on the data collected in OREDA (Offshore and onshore REliability DAta project). The fault tree (a top-down approach to illustrate all subsystems in a system) has been modeled by focusing on the six main subsystems of the compressor (power transmission, compressor, control and monitoring, lubrication system, shaft seal system, and miscellaneous). All the maintainable items described in ISO 14224 are considered. Based on the failure rates collected in OREDA, the most prevalent failures have been identified via a Pareto analysis. The article gives recommendations which subsystems should be prioritized for maintenance and which types of faults are likely to occur. The main contribution of this paper is an industry-based statistical analysis of the failure mechanisms in centrifugal compressor systems. It is expected to improve the reliability of centrifugal compressor systems and can be implemented in industrial settings with a similar documentation system like OREDA.