Availability modeling of screening system of a paper plant using GSPN

This paper seeks to propose a methodology based on Petri nets to evaluate the reliability parameters of a screening system in paper industry. The effects of failures and courses of action on the system performance have also been investigated.

Generalized stochastic Petri nets (GSPN), a class of Petri nets, has been used to model the interactions amongst the active/standby units of the system; and Markovian approach has been used to evaluate the reliability parameters. The data related to equipments' operational behavior were collected, processed and quantified. Using the data, reliability analysis of system in the long run conditions has been carried out. The sensitivity analysis has been performed to study the effect of failure/repair rates of each unit of the system on system performance.

The methodology adopted in this paper provides a better understanding on the behavior of the system through its graphical representation. The reachability graph generated with Petri net model helps to identify the state space evolution of the system.

Reliability analysis of a screening system of the paper industry presented in this paper will help management in deciding upon the maintenance strategy to be adopted with the objective of improving the performance of the system and consequently reducing the operational and maintenance costs.