Realization of circuit breaker condition-based maintenance using optimal contact wear equation by the modified NM-PSO algorithm

Abstract

The electrical circuit breaker (CB) is one of the absolutely essential devices in the electrical power system. The evaluation of CB condition and its reliability gain on importance. The contact wear of the CB monitored by Intelligent Electronic Device plays a crucial role in the condition-based maintenance (CBM). The present contact wear maintenance of the CB is based on the maintenance data provided by original manufacturers to compute the value of the accumulated contact wear. However, the evaluation of the contact wear always has a quite error. It may lead to over-maintenance or under-maintenance commonly found in maintenance planning and scheduling. Little literature has been down on the issue. By utilizing the modified hybrid Nelder–Mead simplex search and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, the paper proposes a curve-fitting technology to obtain an optimal contact wear equation for realizing the CBM of the CBs. The presented optimal contact wear equation minimizes the sum of squared errors that can be programmed in Intelligent Electronic Device. An effective CBM planning can enhance electricity substation reliability and cut maintenance costs. Compared with the conventional Nelder–Mead simplex search and PSO and PSO algorithms, two case studies are given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The work may provide some valuable references for the related workers and researchers. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.