A reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) model for electromechanical components in hydropower plants

Abstract Hydropower generation is world best source of renewable energy and is continuously playing a tremendous job in energy requirement. To cope up with day by day increasing demand in electric energy, it is very essential to keep the hydropower plants in sustainable operational condition. To achieve this, the maintenance strategies based on Reliability, Availability and Maintainability (RAM) analysis play a pivotal role in sustainability of the hydropower plants. In our case study various critical components of hydropower plant were identified such as turbine, governor and generator. The causes and effects of various failures in the critical components were identified using Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA) and Fault tree Analysis (FTA). The main role in the study is presenting a RAM model which helps in evaluating different levels of performance in Hydropower plant. Finally, the RAM parameters were evaluated and their outcomes were suggested to find the convenient maintenance intervals. The results of the proposed model revealed that the critical flaws of the hydrogenation process such as turbines, governors and generator should to be taken on priority basis to achieve the high level of reliability and safety. The results of present framework is to achieve the high level of reliability, hence, the main flaws of the hydrogenation process such as turbines, governors and generator should to be taken on priority basis. The proposed study could be valuable for improving the availability and safety of the critical equipment in hydropower plant. As a consequence, the results of present study could be beneficial for other hydro generating facilities to achieve the sustainable maintenance and operation programs in electricity generation systems.