System Condition Estimation Based on Selected Tribodiagnostic Data

The aim of the paper is to estimate a system‐soft failure occurrence and residual technical life. When estimating a residual technical life statistically, usually a big amount of tribodiagnostic data is used. Data include the information about particles contained in oil that testifies to oil and system conditions. We focus here on the particles that we consider to be interesting. They are ferrum (Fe) and lead (Pb) as contact degradation product. By modelling the occurrence of particles in oil, we expect to determine the expected moment for soft failure occurrence or adequate moment to perform preventive maintenance. The way of our modelling is based on the specific characteristics of diffusion processes, namely the Wiener process with positive drift and Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process. Following the modelling results, we could judge hazard rate and set‐up principles of ‘CBM ‐ Condition Based Maintenance’ (CBM). However, the possibilities are much wider, because we can also plan operation, mission and reduce life cost. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.