Application of Fuzzy Set Theory for Selection of Mine Fan

Main mechanical ventilator of a mine is generally a one time investment and holds a substantial share in the total project outlay. A decision-maker has to select a fan from a list of various models and makes with a wide variation of their performances, costs, etc. Although the sole aim of any capital investment is to maximise the profit, yet there are some other deciding factors which make the job of the decision-maker extremely complicated. The real complexity arises when some of these factors are qualitative in nature and different factors have different degree of influence in the selection processes. A fuzzy multi-criteria, multi-objective decision making technique has been applied in this paper, which can successfully take into account various quantitative as well as qualitative factors with different degrees of importance. A set of alternative systems with a set of objectives are considered for ordering or ranking them, employing the opinion of mining engineers and experts using fuzzy numbers.