A dynamic opportunistic maintenance policy for continuously monitored systems

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a dynamic opportunistic maintenance policy for a continuously monitored multi‐unit series system with integrating imperfect effect into maintenance activities.Design/methodology/approachBased on the hybrid hazard rate recursion rule, an imperfect maintenance model for a continuously monitored single‐unit system was proposed. Then by introducing the “set‐up cost” concept, a dynamic opportunistic maintenance (OM) policy for multi‐unit‐series‐systems was developed. The optimal maintenance activities were determined by maximizing the short‐term cumulative OM cost saving for the continuously monitored system. A numerical example is given to show how the proposed dynamic OM policy proceeded.FindingsThe simulation results imply that the proposed policy is better than the policy to maintain the system units separately and the policy to maintain the system units together.Practical implicationsThe proposed dynamic maintenance policy can fulfill the real plant environment that maintenance action is always imperfect and maintenance information is only available over a short term. Under this policy, the maintenance manager can easily and quickly adjust the maintenance schedule at any moment according to the working condition of the system.Originality/valueThe proposed model in this paper integrates the imperfect maintenance effect into condition‐based predictive maintenance, and the system maintenance schedule is dynamically determined based on the short‐term information of the system.