AIMS

School of Merchant Marine

Midn. Dinlasan, Romar P. 119-0399

BS MarE 32-A2 C/E Norberto Ecat
MAINT. 32L3
What are the Different Types of Maintenance?
Maintenance is a way of
keeping something in proper
condition, or upkeep including: taking
steps to avoid something breaking
down and bringing something g back
to working order. The goal of
maintenance is to assure the greatest
efficiency and availability of
equipment, utilities, and related
facilities at the lowest possible cost while maintaining adequate quality, safety, and
protection for the environment. Keeping machines well maintained, is obviously one
of the most important aspects for being an engineer. Maintenance, in general, can be
defined as efforts taken to keep the condition and performance of a machine always
like the condition and performance of the machine when it is still new.

Types of Maintenance Procedures

1. Breakdown or Reactive Maintenance
The breakdown maintenance may be
defined as maintenance, carried out after
failure detection. Whenever a shipboard
machinery fails or an equipment breaks
down, the repairs that follow are known as
Breakdown Maintenance. Generally, a
breakdown maintenance is avoided when at
sea due to limited availability of resources
unless the equipment is critical and in-use.
In this system the maintenance is carried out when the machinery breaks down.
This is the reason it is known as the breakdown maintenance. This is not a suitable
and good method as situations may occur wherein the machinery is required in
emergency. The only advantage of this system is that the working of machinery parts
is used to its full life or until it breaks. This system might get costly as during breakdown
several other parts may also get damaged.
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School of Merchant Marine

2. Preventive or Planned Maintenance

It is a method for preventing
damage to equipment by periodically
replacing parts based on time of use and
carrying out minor maintenance and
inspections to find out the current state
of the equipment / machinery. This time-
based monitoring system is commonly
employed on board ships that includes
periodic inspection, overhauling,
replacing components of a particular
machine. It is costly and involves
considerable man power.
Planned maintenance is based on a defined schedule of equipment
maintenance. This maintenance policy is the standard practice today in the majority of
shipping companies. The planned maintenance schedule is decided based on
manufacturers' recommendations or use of analytical techniques such as analysis of
mean time between failures (MTBF) and reliability analysis. This approach is based
on a model of the time that elapses between maintenance periods that takes into
account the mechanisms of failures. The planned maintenance is not necessarily
based on fixed-time programs but could be based on an analysis method that
considers several factors, such as the equipment's reliability characteristics.
It is famously known as the PMS or Planned Maintenance System. In this type
of system, the maintenance is carried out as per the running hours like 4000 hrs., 8000
hrs. etc., or by the calendar intervals like 6 monthly, yearly etc. of the machinery. The
maintenance is carried out irrespective of the condition of the machinery. The parts
have to be replaced if it is written in the schedule, even if they can be still used.

3. Predictive or Condition-Based Maintenance

Condition-Based Maintenance is
the maintenance decision is based on the
current condition or reliability of the
system or equipment. This policy
stipulates the monitoring of the machinery
and acting upon its condition. Usually,
engineers record the system parameters,
do condition/performance analysis, and
use their senses or equipment to hear,
sight, and smell the equipment to assess
the system's condition. Different
techniques are used in condition monitoring, such as visual inspection, performance
monitoring, trend monitoring, vibration monitoring, lubricant monitoring, thermograph
monitoring, and acoustic monitoring. The advantages of such a policy are that
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School of Merchant Marine

unnecessary maintenance work can be avoided. In this way, the loss of production
during scheduled machine downtime can be reduced, and components can remain in
service if it is in good working condition.
In this system the machinery parts are checked regularly. With the help of
sensors etc. the condition of the machinery is accessed regularly and the maintenance
is done accordingly. This system requires experience and knowledge as wrong
interpretation may damage the machinery and lead to costly repairs which may not be
acceptable by the company.