Center at the Colorado School of Mines is pursuing several research projects intended to automate the monitoring of a utility substation. These projects will enable utilities to decrease maintenance costs and improve system-wide reliability through reliability centered maintenance and predictive maintenance techniques. In reliability centered maintenance, the maintenance is optimized according to cost, reliability, and safety criteria.
Predictive maintenance is an important component of the optimization criteria.
Predictive Maintenance Predictive maintenance allows utilities to classify maintenance task as condition based, rather than time based. The implementation of an online monitoring system requires the ability to interpret large amounts of data into meaningful conclusions. The generation of these conclusions needs to be completed automatically, without the efforts of maintenance personnel. Ultimately, predictive maintenance techniques will perform recommendations on analysis of proper fault protection and maintenance scheduling. The predictive maintenance program developed by Colorado School of Mines is specifically focused around high voltage transformers, circuit breakers and ground mat risers.