FailureModesandEffectsAnalysis
FailureModeandEffectAnalysis(FMEA)isanalternativemethodofhazardidentification:itisless
formalizedthanHazopandinvolvestheconsiderationofthepossibleoutcomesfromalldiscernedfailure
modesordeviationswithinasystem.Itisparticularlysuitedtocomplexmechanicalorelectricalsystems
andcanbeappliedatdifferentlevelsofdetailorcomplexity.
TheTableprovidesalistofrepresentativefailuremodesforvalves,pumps,andheatexchangers.
FMEAsystematicallyidentifiestheconsequencesofcomponentfailureonthatsystemanddetermines
thesignificanceofeachfailuremodewithregardtothesystemsperformance.Thetechniqueisprimarily
usedtostudymaterialandequipmentfailureandcanbeappliedtoawiderangeoftechnologies.Itisa
bottomuptechniquewhereineachfailuremodewithinthesystemistracedforwardlogicallyin
sequencetothefinaleffect.ItisoftenusedinconjunctionwithFaultTreeAnalysis(FTA).
Methodology of FMEA
Thefollowingstepsarerequired:
Definethesystemtobeevaluated,thefunctionalrelationshipsofthepartsofthesystemandtheir
performancerequirements.Largeprocessesarebrokendownintosmallersystemssuchasfeedor
cooling.
Establishthelevelofanalysis:thechoiceoflevelofanalysiscanbeverydifficult.Onemethodis
toperformanFMEAbasedonthefunctionalstructureofasystemratherthanonitsphysical
components.
Identifyfailuremodes,theircauseandeffects,theirrelativeimportanceandtheirsequence.
Examplesoffailuremodesinclude:prematureoperation,failuretooperatewhenrequired,
intermittentoperation,failuretoceaseoperationwhenrequired,lossofoutputorfailureduring
operation,degradedoutput.
Identifyfailuredetection,rectificationandisolationprovisionsandmethods
Identifydesignandoperationprovisionsagainstsuchfailures
Summarize,recommendcorrectiveactionsandissuereport.ThereisnostandardformatforFMEA
reports.Themostsignificantfailuresintermsoftheireffectsontheoverallsystemshouldbe
identified.
BasedontheFMEA,thefollowingcoursesofactioncanbeconsidered:
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Eliminatethecauseoffailure
Reduceprobabilitythatthecauseoffailurewillresultinthefailuremode
Reduceseverityoffailurebyredesignoraddprotectionredundancy
Increaseprobabilityofdetection
Failureratedatamaybeexpressedinanumberofways.The2mostcommonarethenumberof
failuresperyearandthenumberoffailuresper106hours.
RecordofFMEAStudy
AnFMEAtablecontainsaseriesofcolumnsfortheequipmentreferencenumber,thenameofthepiece
ofequipment,adescriptionoftheequipmenttype,configuration,servicecharacteristics,etc,whichmay
impactthefailuremodesand/oreffects,andalistofthefailuremodes.
EXAMPLE1,EXAMPLE2
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