A Maintenance Optimization Program for Utilities’ Transmission
and Distribution Systems
Sohrab Asgarpoor Mohamad Doghman
Department of Electrical Engineering Principal Research Engineer
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Omaha Public Power District
1. ABSTRACT Therefore, the health of equipment is of utmost
importance to the industry because revenues are
Today, preserving and/or enhancing system affected by the condition of equipment. When
reliability and reducing operations and demand is high and equipment is in working
maintenance (O&M) costs are top priorities for order, substantial revenues can be realized. On
electric utilities. As system equipment continue to the contrary, unhealthy equipment can result in
age and gradually deteriorate, the probability of service interruption, customer dissatisfaction, loss
service interruption due to component failure of good will, and eventual loss of customers. An
increases. An effective maintenance strategy is effective maintenance strategy is essential to
essential in delivering safe and reliable electric delivering safe and reliable electric power to
power to customers economically. The objective customers economically.
of this paper is to provide a framework for a
predictive, condition-based, and cost effective 3. MAINTENANCE
maintenance optimization program for
transmission and distribution systems. During the Pre-World War II era, industry was
not very highly mechanized, therefore the impact
2. INTRODUCTION of down time was not very significant [2]. Also,
equipment was simpler which made it easy to fix,
In principle, improving system reliability and and companies performed mainly Corrective
reducing Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Maintenance (CM). During the Post-World War
costs are top priorities of electric utilities. In an II until the mid 1970’s era, increased
increasingly competitive power delivery mechanization led to more numerous and complex
environment, electric utilities are forced to apply equipment. Companies were beginning to rely
more proactive methods of utility asset heavily on this equipment. This dependence led to
management. One of the main components of the concept of Preventive Maintenance (PM). In
electric power delivery asset management is the the 1960’s, PM consisted mainly of equipment
capital budgeting and O&M of existing facilities. overhauls done at fixed intervals. Also, the
Since in many cases the cost of construction and increased costs of this equipment led management
equipment purchases are fixed, O&M to start finding ways to increase the life of these
expenditures is the primary candidate for cost assets.
cutting and potential savings. As system The latest era began with the aircraft industry in
equipment continue to age and gradually the early to mid 1970’s. The huge costs of new
deteriorate, the probability of service interruption highly-mechanized equipment resulted in
due to component failure increases. companies wanting to ensure that equipment
Electric utilities are confronted with many lasted and operated correctly for as long as
challenges in this new era of competition: rising possible. This era also marked an increased
O&M costs, growing demand on systems, awareness in safety (especially in the airline
maintaining high levels of reliability and power industry) and environmental consequences.
quality, and managing equipment aging. Increasingly, occurrence of failures represent
safety or environmental hazards. All of this has b) Failure Finding is for identifying equipment
led to an increase in the cost of maintenance. In failure that are not evident to the operating crew
some industries, maintenance costs represent the (hidden failures). Usually used for protective
second highest or even the highest component of equipment.
operating costs.
c) Condition Directed applies to the situation
4. MAINTENANCE STRATEGIES when the condition of equipment reaches a limit,
or when continued satisfactory operation can not
be ensured. It prevents incipient failure from
In general, maintenance is either planned or becoming real failure.
unplanned as shown in Figure 1. d) Run To Failure is an option that is selected
only in the event that a technically correct and
Corrective maintenance is a reactive strategy cost-effective task can not be identified.
which is unplanned and is carried out after failure Predictive Maintenance (PdM) is carried out when
has occurred. The intention is to restore an item it is deemed necessary, based on periodic
to a state that can perform its required function. inspections, diagnostic tests or other means of
Planned maintenance strategies are proactive in condition monitoring. Condition Monitoring is the
nature and can be divided into two groups: monitoring or diagnostic activity that is used to
Preventive and Condition Monitoring. Preventive predict equipment failure.
maintenance which is sometimes called scheduled,
is a maintenance carried out at regular intervals.
5. RELIABILITY CENTERED
There are four basic tasks that can be selected
MAINTENANCE (RCM)
under this category:
During the late 1960’s, the aircraft industry was
a) Time Directed task involves number of
on the verge of manufacturing the first “jumbo
operations, operating hours, or seasonal change.
jets”. The new 747’s were three times the size of
U n p la n n e d P la n n e d
M a in te n a n c e
S tr a te g ie s
R e a c tiv e P r o - a c tiv e
S c h e d u le d P r e d ic tiv e
C o r r e c tiv e P r e v e n tiv e C o n d itio n
M o n ito r in g
T im e F a ilu r e C o n d itio n R un T o
D ir e c te d F in d in g D ir e c te d F a ilu r e
F ig u re 1 . M a in te n a n c e S tra te g ie s
any other passenger jets currently in the air. The will help establish priorities for a new program.
recognized size of the 747, its new engines, and Specifically, RCM is a set of methods and tools
its many technology advances in structures, aimed at helping a utility to determine the
avionics, and the like, all led to Federal Aviation minimum set of preventive maintenance tasks
Administration (FAA) to initially take the position necessary to appropriately address critical
that preventive maintenance on the 747 would be equipment failures without compromising service
very extensive – so extensive, in fact, that the reliability. RCM is a structured process used to
airlines could not likely operate this airplane in a determine optimal maintenance requirements for
profitable fashion. This problem led the aircraft equipment in a particular operating environment.
industry to completely reevaluate its PM program. It combines the strategies of corrective
What resulted from this effort was a whole new maintenance, preventive maintenance and
approach that employed a decision-tree process predictive maintenance, and applies these
for ranking PM tasks that were necessary to strategies where each is appropriate, based on the
preserve critical aircraft functions during flight consequence and frequency of functional failures.
[3]. This new technique was eventually approved This combination produces a maintenance
by the FAA and soon thereafter evolved into what program which optimizes both reliability and cost
is known as Reliability Centered Maintenance effectiveness. For major pieces of equipment,
(RCM). RCM used by the airline industry led to such as power transformers, RCM may indicate
major reduction in labor, material cost and that predictive maintenance is an attractive option,
inventory cost. Further it applied to nuclear given the decreasing cost of sensor and diagnostic
power industry in the 1980’s. Today, RCM is the technology and the increasing cost of running the
maintenance technique of choice for many equipment to failure.
industries including power industries. RCM is a condition-based maintenance program
Unlike the airline industry which had the that focuses on preventing failures that are likely
advantage of being able to work with to be the most serious. RCM and Predictive
manufacturers to create an RCM program for a Maintenance (PdM) analyses complement each
new generation of equipment, the utility industry, other, and when they are performed
especially the electric power generation industry, concurrently, offer an excellent approach to
has had to adopt RCM as a modification of long- maintenance optimization. In the last few years,
established maintenance practices at existing the sophistication of monitoring equipment on the
plants [4]. Despite the costs associated with the market and the falling price of electronics and
implementation of these RCM programs in computers have made the on-site monitoring
“midstream”, they have been found to pay for applications a cost effective reality.
themselves in very short order.
The very basic concepts and underlying principles
RCM, as has been mainly applied to nuclear of the RCM can be explained very easily. Its main
power plants, often requires the largest amount of methodology can be reduced to the following four
maintenance because of safety and environmental points:
considerations. However, with these successful
programs now operating, fossil power plants and 1) preserve system functions
power transmission and distribution systems have 2) identify dominant failure modes
recently been getting into the mix. Because these 3) prioritize function needs so that budget can be
facilities face a less restrictive regulatory focused on preserving most critical functions
environment, they should be able to directly apply 4) select only applicable and effective
the streamlines forms of RCM much more easily, maintenance tasks
thus reducing the implementation costs.
Some of the benefits of RCM are:
The first step in revamping a maintenance 1) Reduces major corrective actions
program is to implement an RCM approach which
2) Eliminates unnecessary overhauls and routine Certain gas levels can indicate aging, the need for
tasks that provide little benefits maintenance, or potential failure.
3) Optimizes the frequency of required overhauls Infrared Thermography
4) Increases use of predictive technology that Thermography surveys involving the use of an
help with resource planning infrared camera to detect hot spots in large motors
5) Decreases use of intrusive tasks that can used in power plants.
induce equipment failures Sound Intensity Measurement
6) Improves cost-effectiveness of routine tasks Sound Intensity Meter is needed to identify
7) Creates documented technical bases for potential problems in equipment and record the
maintenance programs historical changes in sound and output of
8) Allows easy implementation by incorporating equipment
existing maintenance practices that have For transmission and distribution systems,
proven to be cost-effective sensors such as transformer fault gas analyzer
9) Processes Knowledge, communications, and might prove to be beneficial. This device
teamwork provides real-time measurement of the four key
Inexpensive solid state sensors are being gases associated with fault currents in
developed, for example, that can be inserted in transformer: carbon monoxide, hydrogen,
transformer oil to detect the presence of gases acetylene, and ethylene. The next step is to
produced when insulation begins to deteriorate. incorporate an additional sensor to detect the
Once the information from predictive maintenance presence of moisture which can reduce dielectric
technology becomes available, it needs to be strength and lead to failure. This will be used
integrated with on-line data from across a power with another device that measures the transformer
network and from historical records. loading so that the evolution of key gases and
moisture can be characterized as a function of the
6. NEW TECHNOLOGIES load. With the moisture sensor and load current
monitor we can develop accurate criteria for
There are many technologies available today, and loading transformers under stressful conditions
several new methods are being investigated to rather than having to rely on the overly
determine the equipment condition [5]. The conservative ratings now provided.
following are just a few applications for
monitoring power delivery equipment: 7. PROPOSED INTEGRATED
APPROACH
Ultrasonic Noise Analysis
The presence of tones in the ultrasonic range can An integrated approach for transmission and
be an indication of leaks of air, gas, steam, and distribution systems would ensure that equipment
vacuum. Ultrasonic noise can be emitted as a or subsystems leading to serve a particular load
result of friction between moving parts. would receive uniform and consistent level of
Partial Discharge Detection maintenance in all departments, thus enhancing
This technology employs an electrical sensor to and optimizing the maintenance process.
detect the initial insulation breakdown in electrical
equipment such as insulators and terminators. In order to establish a maintenance program, the
Partial discharge detection is used to detect RCM process needs to be the driving point.
incipient failures before significant damage Figure 2. Shows different strategies required for a
occurs. maintenance optimization program. The classical
Transformer Gas-in-Oil Analysis RCM process involves identifying the systems to
This is needed to keep the transformer on-line as be studied, their functions, functional failures,
much as possible. One indicator of abnormalities failure modes, failure causes, and the maintenance
is the dissolved gas content in the transformer oil. task selection.
The most critical pieces of equipment which affect offices, and with control centers would best suit
the overall function of the system need to be the needs of electric utilities by integrating
identified. In other words, we need to identify various data sources and other software modules.
equipment with severe consequences when failed.
Also, critical customers and the equipment Currently, many large utility organizations
leading to their loads need to be identified. All perform some equipment diagnostic tests. Many
equipment affecting these customers need to be have computerized their maintenance work
analyzed, and the most critical pieces of management functions including retaining
equipment should be determined. We also need to maintenance histories, logging significant
understand the customer needs in terms of operational activities, and maintaining a library of
reliability, safety, power quality, cost, etc. These design information for equipment. The proper
attributes must be weighted to determine the communication, integration and analysis of all of
optimum maintenance policy to deal with these this information would result in more accurate
customers. recommendations concerning when to perform
maintenance and/or how to operate a specific
In order to optimize the utilities’ maintenance piece of equipment.
program, all relevant information must be used to
most effectively initiate, schedule, track, record, A typical problem in the industry is that, at times,
and analyze maintenance tasks. An open a large amount of data is collected but it is not
communication protocol that enables various integrated and processed expediently for a quick
monitoring devices (regardless of the evaluation. This results in the inability to make
manufacturer) to talk to each other, with utility immediate O&M recommendations, thereby
- Vendor Recommend.
- Maintenance History
RCM - Personnel Experience
Strategy
Predictive Preventive Corrective
Strategy Strategy Strategy
M aintenance
- Vibration Analysis
Implementation - Vendor Recommend.
- Sound Level Detection - Maintenance History
- Infrared Thermography - Personnel Experience
- Gas in Oil Analysis
- Partial Discharge Detec
Figure 2. Integrated Approach to Maintenance
adding cost for the collection of data while failing 8. CONCLUSION
to provide cost benefit which could have been
realized. Today, cutting operations and maintenance costs
and preserving service reliability are the top
Other factors that may contribute to maintenance priorities for managers of utility transmission and
improvement are: application of inexpensive distribution systems. The concept of RCM is
sensor techniques and effective diagnostics to sound and should provide utilities with a
maintain equipment’s health; data coordination structured approach to a maintenance program
from multiple sources for analysis and decision with an optimum balance between cost of
making; a system for efficient exchange of maintenance and reliability improvement. RCM
information across T&D and substations; and and PdM analyses complement each other, and
experienced pool of trained professionals. when performed simultaneously, offer an
excellent approach to maintenance optimization.
The management should be prepared to invest in
staff and hardware/software to actively manage 9. REFERENCES
the maintenance program. A team approach to
RCM must be retained and the concept of RCM [1] G. J. Anders, Probability Concepts in Electric
must be accepted in the organization. Power Systems, 1990, John Wiley & Sons.
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hardware, education and training efforts should be Industrial Press Inc., 1992.
an integral part of this process. The understanding
of the basics of utility’s maintenance program and [3] A. M. Smith, Reliability-Centered
the working knowledge of the tools required by Maintenance, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1993.
the staff must be assured. [4] S. Asgarpoor and C. Singh, “Methods for
Detection of Equipment Aging and Incorporating
The key to sustaining a successful maintenance it in the Reliability Analysis”, Proceedings of
program is the development of a process that will NSF Symposium on Electric Power Systems
ensure the continuance of maintenance program Infrastructure, Pullman, WA, October 1994.
over a long period of time. It is necessary to
periodically review and update the maintenance [5] J. Douglas, “The Maintenance Revolution”,
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pp. 6-15.
