A maintenance time prediction method based on modular arrangement of predetermined time standard and maintenance interfaces

As an important quantitative of the design of maintenance, maintenance time is of great importance for both military and civil products. On the one hand, long maintenance time will lead to the reduction of the rate of success for some military mission. On the other hand, it will result in the increase of the consumption of human and material resources, which contribute to high running cost of some commercial enterprise like airlines. Therefore, how to accurately predict the maintenance time of the product in design stage is a matter of cardinal significance. Currently, there are two main methodologies to predict the maintenance time in the design stage, the predictive method based on statistical and historical data, and the measurement method based on virtual reality and Predetermined Time System (PTS)(Dong, Le, and Chuan 2013)(Wu, Zhou, and Liu 2018). The first kind methods are mainly applicable to the maintenance time prediction of electronic products rather than mechanical products, due to the statistical data of the former is easier to obtain. The other kind of methods are available all kinds of products, on paper unfortunately. Because PTS originated from production line operation, and is unable to cope with complex maintenance operations. In this paper, we propose a new maintenance time prediction method, in which the maintenance time is divided into approach time, posture adjustment time and maintenance operation time. Further, we innovatively decompose specific maintenance operations into maintenance interfaces (fasteners, connectors, etc.). The approach and osture adjustment time are calculated by Modular arrangement of predetermined time standard (MODAPTS)(Heyde 1983), and the complex maintenance operation time is obtained by accumulating the standard time of maintenance interface. Then, considering the complexity of maintenance operation, we introduce four maintainability attributes to correct the maintenance time. At the end of the paper, an experimental of an Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) disassembly process is performed to verify the accuracy, effectiveness and feasibility of the method.