Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) For Asset Management In Electric Power Distribution System

ABSTRACT

The purpose of Maintenance is to extend equipment life time or at least the mean time to the next failure. Asset Maintenance, which is part of asset management, incurs expenditure but could result in very costly consequences if not performed or performed too little. It may not even be economical to perform it too frequently. The decision therefore, to eliminate or minimize the risk of equipment failure must not be based on trial and error as it was done in the past. In this thesis, an enhanced Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) methodology that is based on a quantitative relationship between preventive maintenance (PM) performed at system component level and the overall system reliability was applied to identify the distribution components that are critical to system reliability. Maintenance model relating probability of failure to maintenance activity was developed for maintainable distribution components. The Markov maintenance Model developed was then used to predict the remaining life of transformer insulation for a selected distribution system. This Model incorporates various levels of insulation deterioration and minor maintenance state. If current state of insulation ageing is assumed from diagnostic testing and inspection, the Model is capable of computing the average time before insulation failure occurs. The results obtained from both Model simulation and the computer program of the mathematical formulation of the expected remaining life verified the mathematical analysis of the developed model in this thesis. The conclusion from this study shows that it is beneficial to base asset management decisions on a model that is verified with processed, analysed and tested outage data such as the model developed in this thesis.