Maintenance Strategy Optimization of a Coal-Fired Power Plant Cooling Tower through Generalized Stochastic Petri Nets

Arthur H.A. Melani, Carlos A. Murad, Adherbal Caminada Netto, Gilberto F.M. Souza and Silvio I. Nabeta
Additional contact information
Arthur H.A. Melani: Mechatronics and Mechanical System Engineering Department, Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-030, Brazil
Carlos A. Murad: Mechatronics and Mechanical System Engineering Department, Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-030, Brazil
Adherbal Caminada Netto: Mechatronics and Mechanical System Engineering Department, Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-030, Brazil
Gilberto F.M. Souza: Mechatronics and Mechanical System Engineering Department, Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-030, Brazil
Silvio I. Nabeta: Energy and Electrical Automation Department, Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-010, Brazil

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-28

Abstract: Determining the ideal size of maintenance staff is a daunting task, especially in the operation of large and complex mechanical systems such as thermal power plants. On the one hand, a significant investment in maintenance is necessary to maintain the availability of the system. On the other hand, it can significantly affect the profit of the plant. Several mathematical modeling techniques have been used in many different ways to predict and improve the availability and reliability of such systems. This work uses a modeling tool called generalized stochastic Petri net (GSPN) in a new way, aiming to determine the effect that the number of maintenance teams has on the availability and performance of a coal-fired power plant cooling tower. The results obtained through the model are confronted with a thermodynamic analysis of the cooling tower that shows the influence of this system’s performance on the efficiency of the power plant. Thus, it is possible to determine the optimal size of the repair team in order to maximize the plant’s performance with the least possible investment in maintenance personnel.

Keywords: generalized stochastic Petri net; GSPN; reliability; availability; maintenance; cooling tower (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/10/1951/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/10/1951/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:10:p:1951-:d:233190

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().