Abstract
New scientific and practical approaches in the livestock industry use Industry 4.0 and IoT technologies, in particular, feed mixers, for efficient transportation and dosing of feed, but the reliability problems of these mechanisms require research to determine the parts and assemblies that limit their performance and calculate their maintainability. The purpose of this study was to establish the design, production, and operation failures of feed mixer mechanisms, the causes of their occurrence, and the time to eliminate them. For this purpose, an examination of feed mixers was conducted according to the reliability test plan [NMT]. The test plan provided for the presence of N objects, which were restored in case of working capacity loss by M, and experiments are stopped when the operating time T was reached. The initial information was collected and processed, and empirical data were analysed to eliminate failures of the PROFILE 12.2 DS and PROFILE 14.2 DS feed dispensers. The tests established that during the warranty period of operation of feed dispensers, their faulty condition is caused by failures of the second group of complexity. Failures related to the restoration of the working capacity of the subsystem for grinding and mixing, which affects the maintainability of the feed dispenser mixer, are identified. A statistical analysis of the occurrence of these failures was conducted. The main parameters of the theoretical distribution law were determined. In particular, the maintainability indicators of feed dispensers were established: the average recovery time of working capacity, tˉ = 24.0 hours; mean square deviation, σ = 12.93 hours; coefficient of variation, υ = 0.49; the theoretical distribution law – the law of normal distribution. It was confirmed that the average recovery time of feed dispensers according to the Kolmogorov consent criterion was in good agreement with the law of normal distribution. Calculations established that the average time for restoring the operability of research objects was in confidence intervals: 6.98 hours – lower confidence limit; 41.02 hours – upper confidence limit; 34.04 hours – the size of the interval. The results can be implemented to improve the efficiency of maintenance and repair of equipment on livestock farms and optimise spare parts stocks