RCAM based maintenance plan of the power transformers using k-means clustering algorithm

RCAM based maintenance planning of power transmission grid aims to optimize the planned outage of the assets that maximizes the system reliability without additional cost increases. A recent RCAM based transformer maintenance procedure is extended to the system level and a revised maintenance plan is proposed to achieve better reliability indices, total costs and longer life cycles. k-means clustering algorithm is used for criticality assessment and classification of the transformers with respect to two criticality criteria. The proposed classification is applied to the power transformers of Turkish National Power Transmission System and the results are discussed in terms of accuracy and the applicability.