A hybrid genetic algorithm to minimize the periodic preventive maintenance cost in a series-parallel system

Abstract

This study presents a hybrid genetic algorithm (GA) to optimize the periodic preventive maintenance model in a series-parallel system. The intrinsic properties of a repairable system, including the structure of reliability block diagrams, maintenance priority of components, and their maintenance periods, are considered in developing the proposed hybrid GA. The importance measure of components is employed to account for these properties, identify important components, and determine their maintenance priorities. The optimal maintenance periods of these important components are then determined to minimize total maintenance cost given the allowable worst reliability of a repairable system using the GA search mechanism. An elitist conservation strategy is applied to retain superior chromosomes in the iterative breeding process to accelerate the approach toward the global optimum. Furthermore, the response surface methodology is utilized to systematically determine crossover probability and mutation probability in the GA instead of using the conventional trial-and-error process. A case study demonstrates the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed hybrid GA in optimizing the periodic preventive maintenance model in a series-parallel system.