Preventive Maintenance Scheduling Based on Short Circuit and Overload Currents

One of the important aspects of smart grid is to make the best use of existing assets. One way (among others) to achieve this objective is by scheduling effective maintenance routines. Abnormal conditions, including short circuits or overloads, would affect not only the exposed components, but also those farther away from the fault locations. This exposure may cause some of the components fail right away or at a later time. Therefore, the severity, frequency, and timings of system faults are important factors in planning maintenance programs. In this paper, the impact of increased current flows, in the form of short circuits and overloads, on component failure rates are studied and a maintenance scheduling model taking into account such impacts is developed. Using the developed model, the optimum mean time to preventive maintenance is derived and used to maximize the components availability. Results of this paper would help in preventing damage to the equipment by optimally scheduling maintenance programs based on short circuit current levels of the system.