Failure rate analyses of cereal combined drills

Abstract

Machine availability estimations from research performed before the following season are needed to decide 
on the required machinery size necessary for timely operation. Additionally, estimations on machinery 
availability will provide useful data for making mathematically proven assumptions regarding the repair 
maintenance and timeliness costs. Machine reliability or operational availability analyses must be carried 
out, especially for combine drills and combine harvesters, which are relatively more sensitive to timeliness. 
In the literature, there is rare study on operational availability on combine drills. In this study, failure rates, 
which are a direct indication of machine operational availability, were evaluated from the farm records of 
cereal combine drills used in Adana, which is located in Çukurova, one of the major agricultural regions in 
southern Turkey. These records for combine drills of different ages and with different annual use hours were 
collected during three subsequent years. Moreover, different repair and maintenance policies in farms under 
examination were considered. As a result, it was found that different accumulated use hours and repair
maintenance policies have slightly affected failure rates. According to the data, the combine drills included in 
this study are commonly in a randomized breakdown period within their useful life.