2004 IEEE International Conference on Electric Utility Deregulation, Restructuring and Power Technologies (DRPT2004)April 2004 Hong Kong
Study and Modeling on Maintenance Strategy
for a Thermal Power Plant in the New Market
Environment
S. Y . Wei, F . Xu, Y .Min
Abstract--Based on the analysis of the disadvantages of
the traditional time-based maintenance strategy for thermal
power plant, a brand-new maintenance strategy is presented,
and optimization model of three main maintenance styles is
formulated. The mathematical model takes into
consideration all the relational factors synthetically, and
"economic optimization" as the studying target of the
maintenance optimization problem is introduced.
Index Terms--Time-based maintenance, Thermal power
plant, Maintenance strategy, Economic optimization
I. INTRODUCTION
P ower equipment maintenance includes two main
problems, one is what kind of maintenance technique
will be used, the other is what kind of strategy will be
adopted. In the past years in China, the dispatch centers
arranged every power plant's maintenance. Because the
center never technically thought about specific plant's
actual status, the maintenance couldn't be arranged timely.
Now under the power market environment, power plant
wins more independence, which makes the study of
maintenance strategy become more important.
Maintenance strategy is a complicated optimization
problem, which arranges the maintenance action in a
scientific way to make the generator system run normally
with the least costL2'.The strategy that can strengthen a
power enterprise's capability for competition should
satisfy these two points:
1.It should think over all the involved problems deeply
and roundly.
2.0ptimization model must be based on a theoretic
analysis exactly.
Up to now, domestic power enterprises have not
considered the problem of maintenance optimization.
However, in many developed countries it has been treated
as soul of power maintenance. Lots of achievement is
made in this area. Reference [3] introduced a method that
confirmed the best maintenance cycles under the model of
RCM. Reference [4] proposed that maintenance should be
arranged according to the actual need. Reference [ 5 ]
introduced a fuzzy reasoning theory in RCM analysis for
S . Y. Wei is with Dcpartment of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua
University. (c-mail:sywci00~1iiails.tsinghua.cdu.c11)
F. Xu is with Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua
University. (e-mail:nianagcr:~~garrison.sina.ncl)
Y. Min is with Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua
University. (e-mail:minyong(&maiI.tsinghua.cdu.cn)
0-7803-8237-4/04/$17.0002004IEEE
200
establishing the maintenance strategy. Reference [6]
presented a maintenance strategy based on RCM. Its main
character is to establish the maintenance plan by
balancing weightiness of the rate of progress, the quality
and the cost. To attack the problem of how to select the
equipment to maintenance, reference [7], [8] respectively
presented methods to decide the equipment to be
maintained based on its priority. Reference [2] introduced
a selective maintenance strategy for multi-state systems.
The optimization target of this strategy is to gain the
necessary availability with the least maintenance cost.
Reference [9] introduced an optimization method using
interval algorithm and evolutionary strategies. These
discussions analyzed the maintenance optimization
problem from various aspects, and presented a lot of
effective methods. However few mathematical models
considered the industrial practice of power plant, and
most of the strategies could not solve their problems
systemically.
This paper takes "equipment" as the start of
maintenance optimization problem, and classifies
maintenance styles by characteristic of equipment's
operation and maintenance. The mathematical model is
established aiming at every kind of maintenance style, so
it possesses more pertinences and can include all the
involved problems deeply and roundly.
11. A NEWSTRATEGY OF POWER PLANT MAINTENANCE
The time-based maintenance(TBM) strategy, which is
widely used by Chinese power industry heretofore was
learned from former Russia in the 50s last century. Under
this strategy, the maintenance actions of one power plant
were divided into four styles, the large-scale
maintenance(is arranged every 4 to 6 years), the small-
scale maintenance(is arranged per year), the medium-scale
maintenance(is arranged between the former two styles),
and the daily maintenance(can be arranged every day). It
is clear that the contents of the time-based maintenance
are almost identical every time because they were never
decided by real status of equipment. Several decades'
industrial practice proved that the TBM strategy is short
of scientific basis.
After deep study on all kinds of power plant
equipments, a new maintenance strategy which includes
four styles is presented:routine concentrative
reparation(RCR), interim concentrative reparation(ICR),
2 0 0 4 IEEE Intemational Conference o n Electric Utility Deregulation, Restructuring and P o w e r Technologies (DRPT2004) April 2004 H o n g K o n g

daily predictive maintenance and reparation(DPMR), and shows. We name this phenomenon as "status chop". If I'

accidental reparation(AR).
In a power plant there are some kinds of equipments
that can 't be repaired unless they are in stall status. The
periods of these reparations are always longer than a
generator's natural outage interval. So we especially set
the RCR for these equipments.
ICR was set on a generator's natural outage interval, so
status chop" incurs during one equipment's operation, but
we will not repair this equipment, then its life-span is
shortened. The case that a devastating strike incapacitates
some equipment, as Fig. 4 shows, is the worst one, for it
will cause large amount of loss.
Status(t)

7
Sinit
it will not sacrifice the generator's operation time. All the
equipments whose periods of reparations are shorter than
the generator's outage interval can be involved.
DPMR appears daily in order to make the whole
system maintain enough availability. All the equipments Sincapacitate1
b-
'
T; i f e - s p a n ____*(
bt
whose reparations won't affect the generator's operation
can be involved. Fig. 2. Status curve under an ideal circumstance
The accident during a generator's operation usually
arises from some unknowable factors, so we can't know
exactly when AR will happen, and which equipments will
be involved. In this topic, we present a concept of AR
only for the integrity of classification. Fig. 1 shows how
RCR, ICR and DPMR are distributed by time.
I
tl
bt
Fig. 3. Equipment incurs "status chop"

Generator in the state o f RCR

UGenerator in the state o f Operation(DPMR can be arranged)
OGenerator in a natural wtage interval (ICR can be arranged)
Fig. I . Distribution of RCR, ICR and DPMR

111. OPERATION CHARACTERISTICS OF THEEQUIPMENTS

We have mentioned that equipment is the central part Fig. 4. Equipment is incapacitated
of our research, so it is necessary to discuss some
characteristics of equipment in a power plant. B. How Maintenance Afsects Equipment's Life-span
A. Equipment's Life-span In the process of power generation, we can know
whether "status chop" has occurred by the ''status
For every kind of equipments, if its quality is regular
monitoring and diagnosis system". If we arrange a
when it is relieved from the factory, then it will have an
maintenance action in time for the "status chop"
expectative life-span - TIL;e-spon, which represents the equipment, the status curve can be improved. Notice that
expectative period from the equipment's initial status - the manner of "Reparation" or "Replacement" will bring
different effect. The manner of replacement makes
Sini, to incapacitated status- SincupUcitured
under an ideal
equipment jump into a new life-span, as Fig. 5 shows.
circumstance(standard voltage, standard current, standard For the manner of Reparation, we suppose that the "status
temperature, standard humidity, standard pressure etc). chop" equipment's status will develop along the original
Fig. 2 shows equipment's status curve under an ideal curve if it gets a timely reparation, as Fig. 6 shows.
circumstance.
In fact, an equipment's actual life differs from the
expectative life. Suppose this equipment's quality is
absolutely normal at delivery, then the discrepancy of its
I
life-span mainly arise from its actual working I
circumstance which is not too normal. Usually, it is hard
to avoid being situated in an abominable circumstance at
I
I t.\
\
some stochastic period of time or suffering a devastating tl t2
strike at some stochastic time. If the equipment isn't Fig. 5. Status curve under "Replacement" mode
incapacitated under the bad circumstance or strike, then
its status will develop along a new status-curve, as Fig. 3

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2004 IEEE International Conference on Electric Utility Deregulation, Restructuring and Power Technologies (DRPT2004) April 2004 Hong Kong

b-=.
Status(t)

i :
I ,

r t! 2
tl
Fig. 6. Status curve under "Rcparation" mode
t
Y

Where tlCR-oper
is the length of the next interval,
avai,in-i is the minimum value ui may become in the
next operating period, avai," is the minimum availability
ui should become for running normally. 01, ,
Li and ci are the same as definitions in DPRM.
,

OPTIM~ZATION
PROBLEM
C. OptimizationModel for RCR
A . Optimization Model for DPMR
(1)Mathematicaldescription of optimization model
The target of DPMR optimization problem is to satisfy
The substance of RCR optimization problem is how to
the availability requirement with the least maintenance
choose the best routine concentrative reparation time in
cost. The equipment whose maintenance will not affect
order to take the least cost but with sufficient availability.
generator's operation belongs to DPMR.
And the RCR model should be arranged by the following
If ui has incurred "status chop", we should arranged a principles:
maintenance for it under the following rules: a.Selectively arranging maintenance in every interval of
'repair-i C. economy period T,, .
a. If- > 2,
then ui should be replaced.
0li Li b.The maintenance manner can be "Reparation" or
"replacement", reparation makes equipment's actual life
'repair-i C. approach the expectative life.
b. If- < 2 ,then ui should be repaired.
-
01, Li The expectative cost for all maintenances in TRcRis:
where Crepair-i
is the expectative cost for maintenance
of ui , Li is the expectative life of ui , oli is the residual PEPrepn,. PEP,,, i=l

life of ui and ci is the unit price of ui . Total economy loss because of outage for maintenances
in TRcRis:
B. Optimization Model for ICR
The target of ICR optimization problem is to satisfy the
availability requirement in the next operating period with
the least maintenance cost. = loss DRcR-j
Maintenance opportunity of ICR is the natural outage &prep,,
interval, so all the ICR equipment will not affect each
(2)
other while establishing maintenance strategy. We can Then we get an objective function of RCR
find the integrated maintenance scheme by looking for optimization problem:
each optimization scheme of single equipment.
For single equipment u i , the key of its optimization
scheme is to decide "reparation" or "replacement" or
doing nothing. To fulfill expectative optimization target,
(3)
single equipment's maintenance should be arranged by the
following principles:
N
where N,, is the number of equipments belongs to
a.1f 0li ItrcR-oper,then ui should be replaced.
RCR model, N , is the number of equidistant intervals
b.If oli > &cR-opes, and avai,in_i 2 ava( , doing N

in TRcR , ti is the ith interval in T,, ,

nothing to ui .
Y { p I , p ,...,
z p , ) is the set of All intervals in
c.If and avai,i,-i < avai,*,then
01, > tlcR-oper,
which RCR maintenances are arranged, DRCR-,
is the
If -> 2 ,
'repuir-i C.
then ui should be replaced. days taken on the jth interval where a maintenance is
Oli Li
arranged, c,,
( i )is the expectative cost for U,,'s
'repair-i C.
If -I 2 ,then ui should be repaired. maintenance in the ith interval ( i E Prepair),
01, Li
CrePoir+(J)is the expectative cost for ui's

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2004 IEEE International Conference on Electric Utility Deregulation, Restructuring and Power Technologies (DRPT2004) April 2004 Hong Kong

maintenance in the j t h interval ( j E ), loss is the The following is a procedure of solution:

average economy loss because of outage every day. @Let: C,, = 0 0 , e,,= Po,count=O.

(2) Solution for the optimization problem @count=count+l, if count> 2 N p ,forward to 0,

else
Every enterprise's own tradition determines how to forward to @.
choose the value of TRcR.
In the following discussion, we @Enumerate one of 2 N p Prepair
s.

set TRcRas 15 years. l f n E {I,..., N p - I} , validate whether Prepair

The length of one interval in TRcRshould be shorter satisfies relation(4).
If satisfied, forward to @.
than the shortest distance between two neighboring RCR
If not, back to 0.
maintenance. Considering the characteristic of RCR
maintenance, let the length of one interval be six months. @Calculate the c*
So the value of N , is 30( 15years/6months). If C* 2 C,,,, , back to 0.
From the form of (3), we can have a direct idea that if
we obtain all we will get all possible values of the
If c*< C,,,, , then let Clemp
= C*, eemp ,
= Prepair
back to 0.
objective function, then the best solution can be derived. @Let c:in= ctemp = temp .
, and Prepair
The course that U,, {uI,u2,...., uNR,} goes
through TRcRcan be taken as we chose URCR's V. CONCLUSION
maintenance state to arrange a maintenance or not, and a This paper introduces a maintenance strategy for
combination of N , maintenance states corresponds to a electrical enterprise under power market environment. It
breaks out the traditional time-based maintenance strategy
Prepair. For instance, let " 1 be arranging maintenance, by classifying maintenance styles according to
I'

and "0" no arranging maintenance. Then one possible characteristic of equipment's running and maintenance,
and establishing mathematical models for every kind of
combination of "[1 0 0 1...O 11" corresponds to a Prepair
maintenance style. The commonness of DPMR and IRC
as " { 1, 4, ..., N , } ". Obviously total numbers of possible optimization models lies in:
@ Equipment's status message comes from the status
P,.epa,r can be up to 2 NP . monitoring and diagnosis system, so DPMR and IRC both
In view of power plant's current operation, we must belong to condition based maintenance.
@ Maintenance opportunity is fixed, and the key of
follow the principle that any equipment of U,, will not
optimization scheme is to decide "reparation" or
be incapacitated for the reason that its running time has "replacement" or doing nothing.
been too long. Suppose p , is the interval that current @ The DPMR and ICR equipment will not affect each
maintenance belongs to, then the next maintenance other while establishing maintenance strategy. We can
find the integrated maintenance scheme by looking for
interval P,+~ should satisfy the following relation:
each optimization scheme of single equipment.
Like the former two models, RCR also takes
"economic optimization" as the research target of its
where Li is the expectative life of equipment i , maintenance optimization problem. The difference is that
key of optimization scheme is to find out the best
ai(p,,) is the age of ui at p,,.
distribution of maintenance time on an economical period
Core part of the objective function is cre,air-i(j) , and examine the content of each time of maintenance.
which will be calculated by the following rules:
VI. REFERENCE
a. If Li- ai(p,)5 (P,+~- p , ) , then u i should be
Xu Jing, Wang Jing, Ciao Fcng, Shu Hongchun. A Survey of
( p , ,) = ci .
replaced, thus Crepair-i Condition Based Maintenance Technology for Electric Power
Equipments. Power System Technology, 2000,24(8)
b. If Li-a,(p,) > (p,+,- p , ? ), then u ishould be Cheng Chen, Mcng M Q-H, Zuo M J. Selective maintenance
optimization for multi-state systems. IEEE Canadian
examined, and if necessary, be repaired, thus Conference on Elcctncal and Computer Engineering, 1999,
vo1.3: 1477-1482
Hauge B S. Optimizing Intervals for Inspection and Failure-
Finding Tasks Reliability and Maintainability Symposium, 2002,
where C; is the unit price of ui , C i ( a i ) is the Pagc(s):14-19
Endrenyi J, Aboresheid S , Allan R N. The Present Status of
expectative cost for ui 's maintenance within its age ai
Maintenance Strategies and the Impact of Maintenance On

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Reliability. IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 2001.

16(4):638-646
[ 5 ] Johnston D C. Plausible Reasoning Theory in Reliability-Centered
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Maintainability Symposium, 2002, Page(s):5 11-5 15
[7] Kaminaris S D, Papadias B C, Machias A V. Substation
Maintenance Using Fuzzy Sets Theory And Expertsystem
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VII. BIOGRAPHIES
Wei Shaoyan was born in the city of Tianjin, in China, on February 22.
Currently he is a Ph. D.candidate in electrical engineering in Tsinghua
University. His research interest is in power enterprise resource planning.
Xu Fei was born in Anhui province, in China, in 1974. He is a lecturer of
Electrical Engineering Department in Tsinghua University. His research
interest is in power plant maintenance.
Min yong was born in Hubei province, in China, in 1963. He received
Ph. D.in electrical engineering from Tsinghua University. Currently he
is a professor of Electrical Engineering Department in Tsinghua
University. His research interests are in Power System Security, Stability
and Control.

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