2005 IEEE/PES Transmission and Distribution 1

Conference & Exhibition: Asia and Pacific

Dalian, China

Maintenance plan based on RCM

Jie Yu and Hao Zhao

analysis. The program is being carried out in order to test its

Abstract-- Today as the power system is becoming increasingly applicability and feasibility.
high in voltage, large in capacity and automatic in operation,
there are even more rigorous requirements for equipment II. BASIC IDEAS OF THE RCM APPROACH [1], [2]
maintenance and its costs are rising sharply. This paper attempts
to explore the principle of the RCM (reliability-centered The RCM approach emphasizes that the formulation of any
maintenance) strategies, which takes into consideration the maintenance strategy should be based on the reliability of
condition of electrical equipment and its importance in the power electrical equipment and the effect of equipment fault [3]- [5].
network. The actual condition of electrical equipment can be The RCM approach is designed to define preventive tasks
identified based on various criteria and its importance in the
which are applicable to major equipment failure modes and
power network shows the effect of equipment faults on power
network safety and economic benefits. The RCM strategies can have a high cost effectiveness based on the evaluation of the
be adopted to find out which equipment must be maintained first. existing maintenance methods. That is, the reasonable
maintenance tasks will be retained while the ineffective ones
Index Terms—failure analysis, functional analysis, fuzzy sets, will be eliminated. Besides, the formulation of a certain
maintenance, power system, power system economics, power maintenance strategy will be based on the latest findings on
system faults, power system planning, reliability, state estimation. equipment failure modes. In other words, the RCM approach
has operation economy as its starting point by drawing on
I. INTRODUCTION relevant information on failure effects and modes.
Maintenance and operation are the two important aspects The RCM approach gives structural evaluation of failure
of any transformer equipment. Today as the power network is consequences in terms of importance of the failure
becoming increasingly high in voltage, large in capacity and consequences:
automatic in operation, there are even more rigorous 1) Hidden failure, which produces no direct effect on the
requirements for equipment maintenance and its costs are given equipment but may result in serious consequences when
rising sharply. Traditionally, time-based maintenance is it occurs
widely applied in China while condition-based maintenance 2) Safety failure, which will risk the lives of the personnel
has become increasingly popular in the recent years. As has in case it occurs
been found, the time-based approach might result in redundant 3) Operational failure, which will disrupt the normal
maintenance or delayed maintenance, high maintenance costs operations and direct maintenance expenses will be incurred
and a waste of man-hours since it is simply time-based and 4) Non-operational failure, which normally does not
cannot determine if maintenance is necessary or not. disrupt the normal operations but direct maintenance expenses
Condition-based maintenance, though focusing on the actual will be incurred
condition of electrical equipment, fails to take into account the The RCM approach requires that preventive maintenance
constraints of operations personnel and costs on maintenance. be implemented where serious effects will arise from a fault.
Therefore, it is necessary to introduce from abroad Otherwise, only routine maintenance is needed. When
advanced maintenance concepts and technology. The formulating a maintenance strategy based on evaluation of the
successful experience of some developed countries and the effect of equipment failure, the function and failure mode of
latest developments in the field indicate that the RCM-based equipment should be considered and analyzed before
strategy is by far the most advanced and its adoption and wide identifying the specific maintenance task for the components.
application will reap substantial economic benefits.
Meanwhile, the adoption of the RCM-based strategy opens the III. THE ADVANTAGES OF RCM OVER TRADITIONAL
way for a company to modernize its management. It is PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE
actually the embodiment of the company’s managerial and The RCM approach:
technological innovation. This paper attempts to explore the 1) aims to preserve system function and treat components
feasibility of formulating a maintenance program by differently in terms of relative importance according to the
combining condition-based maintenance with reliability correlation between the equipment and system function;
2) requires identification of any equipment failure mode
Jie Yu is with the College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University, that may result in loss of function or functional failure;
Hang Zhou, AL 310027 CHINA (e-mail: banjo@21cn.com).
Hao Zhou is with the College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang
3) determines the distribution of maintenance funds and the
University, Hang Zhou, AL 310027 CHINA (e-mail: zhouhao_ee@zju.edu.cn). prioritization of maintenance programs according to the
0-7803-9114-4/05/$20.00 ©2005 IEEE. 1

importance of system function;
4) selects maintenance tasks according to their results and
economic benefits.
IV. THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RCM STRATEGIES
The procedures for the implementation of RCM strategies
are as illustrated in Fig. 1, the preliminary classification of
equipment (this classification on the subsystem level
facilitates the arrangement and analytical historical
maintenance data as well as the establishment of an analytical
model for equipment rating); the establishment of a historical
maintenance database and an availability analysis model to
rate the importance of the effect of equipment availability
ratio; the establishment of a safety analysis model to rate the
importance of the effect of equipment safety; function, failure
mode and effect analysis (FFMEA); the identification of
maintenance items and modes; the formulation and
implementation of maintenance programs; the evaluation of
maintenance results; and the feedback of maintenance results
and failure logging of the equipment in operation into the
historical maintenance database.
Fig. 1. RCM procedures.
A. Decision-making of the maintenance policy
Decision has to be made as to whether break-down
maintenance can be considered or preventive maintenance
must be carried out according to the condition of given
equipment in the power network and the hazardous conditions
of failure. Where the failure will not produce serious effects or
risk the lives of operations personnel and preventive
maintenance is not found economical, break-down
maintenance can be applied; otherwise, preventive
maintenance should be made the first option.
Scheduled preventive maintenance and condition-based
maintenance are both preventive in nature. The choice of the
appropriate task often depends upon logical judgment.
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B. Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation of the equipment
importance index
According to reliability theory, the following two factors
should be considered when implementing the RCM-based
strategies:
1) Factor of equipment, which refers to the properties of
equipment failure (e.g. failure type, mode, average service life,
etc.) and the characteristics of maintenance;
2) Factor of safety, which refers to the effects of equipment
failures on personal safety, environmental protection, hygiene,
etc.
Therefore, the following parameters are valuable in
defining the importance of a piece of equipment:
1) Structure of transformer station;
2) Type of bay;
3) Voltage class;
4) Type of equipment;
5) Failure rate;
6) Maintenance costs;
7) Losses from power failures;
8) Load type.
Equipment importance analysis provides an important basis
for identifying the specific mode of maintenance. Based on
reliability analysis [6], [7], this paper defines eight parameters
of equipment importance in order to make a comprehensive
evaluation of equipment by means of rating. Given that for
some of the parameters it is hard to define their exact
quantification value in terms of engineering, the author
defines the eight parameters as fuzzy sets and builds a fuzzy
evaluation model to define the importance of equipment
through fuzzy comprehensive evaluation [8], [9]. The
procedures are as follows:
(1): Identifying factor sets and evaluation sets of subjects
In the equation U=[u1, u2,…ui],(i=1,2,…,8), the factor set
U includes 8 factors which corresponds to the eight
parameters of equipment importance.
In the equation V=(V1 ， V2 ， V3 ， V4 ， V5) ， Vi
(i=1,2,…,5), the evaluation set V includes 5 grades which are
defined as Not Important, Average, Moderately Important,
Important, and Very Important. A 10-point grading system is
adopted. In Fig. 2, x represents the value of different grades
andµ(x) represents the corresponding membership function.
Fig. 2. Fuzzy membership function.
For V1, the membership degree can be derived from the
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following equation: C. Formulation of the maintenance program model

⎧ 1 x≤2
µ1 ( x ) = ⎨ (1)
⎩2 − 0.5 x 2 < x ≤ 4
It indicates the possibility of its being subordinated to the
grade Not Important. For V2, the membership degree can be
derived from the following equation:
⎧ 0.5 x − 1 2 < x ≤ 4
µ 2 (x ) = ⎨ (2)
⎩3 − 0.5 x 4 < x ≤ 6
The respective membership degree of V3, V4, and V5 can
be derived in the same way.
(2): Identifying the fuzzy relation matrix
For each unifactor ui(i=1,2,…,8), first derive the evaluation
vector corresponding to the grading value. The vector, which
consists of 5 membership degrees, is represented in the
equation . Fig. 3. RCM strategy model.
[ ]
ri = ri1 , ri 2 , ri 3 , ri 4 , ri 5 (3) Fig. 3 shows the basic evaluation procedures by combining
In the same way the fuzzy evaluation vector of each “equipment’s comprehensive condition” and their “importance
importance factor can be derived. The combination of all the in the power network”, the two important evaluation criteria.
vectors forms the fuzzy relation matrix as follows: Integrating condition analysis into RCM strategy can optimize
the specific maintenance program as a whole.
⎡r11 r12 r13 r14 r15 ⎤ On the other hand, Fig. 3 also shows it is possible to obtain
⎢r r r r r ⎥ the prioritization of necessary maintenances and replacements,
R = ⎢ 21 22 23 24 25 ⎥ (4) which indicates which equipment needs to be maintained first
⎢........... ⎥
and which should follow. In fact, the prioritization of
⎢ ⎥
⎣r81 r82 r83 r84 r85 ⎦ necessary maintenances and replacements is the result of the
combination of the abovementioned two evaluation criteria.
(3): Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation The respective parametric value of “equipment’s
When making fuzzy comprehensive evaluation it is comprehensive condition” and their “importance in the power
necessary to take into consideration the contribution of every network” can be represented through a X-Y coordinate system
factor to the hazardous conditions of given equipment. Taking as shown in Fig. 4 below.
the weight vector A as measurement of ui that affects the size
of effect in the general evaluation, the value of A can be
derived from the formula A=[a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 a6 a7 a8] which
satisfies the normalizing condition as the following formula
shows: al+a2+a3+a4+a5+a6+a7+a8=1. The weight can either
be established through a certain algorithm or obtained through
speculation.
The fuzzy comprehensive evaluation vector B can be
derived from the weight vector A and the fuzzy relation
matrix R.
[
B = A × R = b1 b2 b3 b4 b5 ] (5)
Finally, according to the principle of maximum
subordination, select the corresponding grade vi to the
maximum bi as the result of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation.
Fig. 4. Coordinate representation of equipment’s condition and their
importance in power network.
In Fig.4 above, the vertical ordinate represents
“equipment’s comprehensive condition” and the horizontal
ordinate represents “importance in the power network”. The
bigger the value of I, the more important a given component is
in the power network; the smaller the value of C, the better
condition the equipment is in. The mark of a cross in the
italicized lines stands for a equipment. The two parallel base

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lines marked Cw and Ce are derived from the empirical value a potential electrical accident in advance and thus prevent the
of the personnel in charge of the equipment and professional losses from an unexpected breakdown.
technicians or the user’s tailored data. The characteristic areas
which are parallel to the horizontal ordinate I and are located VI. REFERENCES
between Cw and Ce determine whether the equipment needs [1] Moubray. John, Reliability-centered Maintenance, Beijing: Machinery
routine inspections and maintenances or replacements. The Industry Press, 1995.
[2] Orlowska. T and Yao. Chen, "The reliability-centered maintenance
areas are divided as follows: strategy and its application," Jiangsu Electric Power, vol. 3, 2001.
When C ＞ Ce ： Replacement needed; between Ce and [3] Yaluo. Hwang and Shuhong. Hwang, Condition-based Maintenance of
Cw：Routine inspection and maintenance needed; ＜Cw： Generation Equipment, China Electric Power Press, 2000.
[4] Xiao’e. Xie, Identification of Equipment Condition and Maintenance
Inspection and maintenance not needed Decision making, China Petrochemical Industry Press, 2000.
In each of the areas, the prioritization of equipment [5] State Electric Power Corporation, "Guiding principle for implementation
maintenance can be derived by comparing its distance from of condition-based maintenance at thermal power plants," China Electric
Power, vol. 2, 2002.
axis X beyond the origin. After the derivation of C and I, [6] Yongji. Guo, Power System Reliability Analysis, Tsinghua University
which represent the equipment’s comprehensive condition and Press, 2003.
the equipment’s importance in the power network respectively, [7] Shengli. Shao, " Implementation of condition-based maintenance tasks
to achieve reliability and economy," Electric Power Construction, vol. 3,
d can be derived by applying the following formula: 1999.
⎛ C ⎞ [8] Lei. Hwang and Weimin. Hwang, Fuzzy Control Theory and Its
d = C 2 + I 2 × sin ⎜ arctg + β ⎟ (6) Applications, National Defense Industry Press, 1997.
⎝ I ⎠ [9] Zhaoqing. Yin and Hao. Yin, Artificial Intelligence and Expert System,
China Water Conversancy & Hydropower Press, 2001.
The prioritization of equipment maintenance can be
derived according to the value of d, namely, the order of VII. BIOGRAPHIES
equipment requiring maintenance/ replacement. On the other
Jie Yu Received his BSEE degree from
hand, subdivision of the characteristic areas between Cw and Zhejiang Industry University with the title of
Ce can help determine the maintenance interval. Excellent Graduate Student. His research interests
In the above formula, β refers to the weight coefficient mainly include high voltage engineering and
overvoltage protection.
representing the equipment’s importance in the power
network or the equipment’s comprehensive condition in terms
of the relative importance of equipment. Where axis X is
parallel to the horizontal ordinate I( β = 0 ), only the
°

equipment’s comprehensive condition is taken into

consideration; where axis X is perpendicular to the horizontal Hao Zhao An associate professor of Electrical
ordinate I( β = 90 ), only the equipment’s importance in the
° Engineering at the Zhejiang University. He received
his BSEE , MSEE and PhD degrees from Zhejiang
power network is taken into consideration. University. His research interests mainly include
high voltage engineering and overvoltage protection.
V. CONCLUSION
With the development of maintenance concepts and
technology, the RCM-based approach will inevitably become
the norm. The Maintenance & Diagnosis Center of EPRI (U.S.)
is committed to providing reliability-centered technology and
services, including monitoring, diagnosis and maintenance.
Researchers with the center, with the help of advanced
measurement techniques and analysis software, conducts
extensive online monitoring and root cause failure analysis of
equipment at power stations and power networks. In so doing
they are able to learn about the operating condition and
general health level of equipment and work out specific
maintenance programs accordingly. Their findings show that
with the application of RCM, the heavy maintenance intervals
will be prolonged from the normal 3-5 years to 6-8 and even
10 years. Meanwhile, enormous maintenance costs can be
saved, the service life of equipment extended, and the rate of
returns on investment will soar to 250%~1100%. Moreover,
power downtime can be curtailed and the efficiency of power
supply can rise by more than 50%. With these marked
improvements, we can ensure power supply reliability, detect
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