Ensemble Support Vector Machine Algorithm for Reliability Estimation of a Mining Machine

In this study, a support vector machine (SVM)‐based ensemble model was developed for reliability forecasting. The hyperparameters of the SVM were selected by applying a genetic algorithm. Input variables of the SVM model were selected by maximizing the mean entropy value. The diverse members of the ensemble model were obtained by a k‐means clustering algorithm, and one ensemble member was selected from each cluster by choosing the closest from the cluster center. The optimum cluster number was selected using the Davies–Bouldin index. The developed model was validated by a benchmark turbocharger data set. A comparative study reveals that the proposed method performs better than existing methods on benchmark data sets. A case study was conducted investigating a dumper operated at a coal mine in India. Time‐to‐failure historical data for the dumper were collected, and cumulative time to failure was calculated for reliability forecasting. Study results demonstrate that the developed model performs well with high accuracy (R2 = 0.97) in the prediction of dumper failure, and a comparison with other methods demonstrates the superiority of the proposed ensemble SVM model. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.