Reliability based source maintenance scheduling using nature inspired algorithm

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to solve the realistic problem of source maintenance scheduling (SMS) based on reliability criterion. A novel effective optimization technique is proposed to solve the problem at hand. Design/methodology/approach – The problem has been formulated as a combinatorial optimization task, with the goal of maximizing reliability by minimizing the sum of squares of the reserve loads while satisfying unit and system constraints. This paper employs a nature inspired algorithm known as Teaching Learning Based Optimization (TLBO) for solving the SMS problem based on reliability. Findings – The results reveal that optimal maintenance schedules of generating units has been obtained using TLBO algorithm with minimized values of sum of squares of reserve loads while satisfying system and operational constraints. It is also found that the inclusion of resource constraints (RC) in the model have significant effects on the objective function value which provides a deep insight of the proposed methodology. Originality/value – The contribution of this paper is that an efficient nature inspired algorithm has been applied to solve source maintenance scheduling problem in viewpoint of the planning for future system capacity expansion. The incorporation of exclusion and RC in the model makes the analysis about the impact of SMS on the system reliability more reasonable.