Maintenance Schedule Optimization for Minimal Ecological Footprint
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current maintenance schedules for industrial systems do not adequately consider sustainability aspects, leading to high CO2 emissions due to factors like timing of service work, travel, and spare part transport, which are not optimized for minimal ecological footprint.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method that provides sustainability data items and determines remaining lifetimes using physics-based modeling to optimize maintenance schedules for minimal ecological footprint, incorporating factors like CO2 emissions and other environmental impacts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If maintenance is performed regularly according to fixed intervals, then system reliability is maintained, but CO2 emissions and ecological footprint increase due to unnecessary service trips and spare part transports
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of component remaining lifetimes using physics-based models and operational data to predict when maintenance will actually be needed. This allows scheduling maintenance activities only when necessary, avoiding premature service trips and spare part transports, thereby reducing CO2 emissions while maintaining system reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from fixed-time maintenance intervals to condition-based maintenance scheduling by continuously monitoring component parameters (operational data, wear indicators) and adjusting maintenance timing based on actual component health status. This dynamic parameter adjustment optimizes the balance between reliability and environmental impact.
2Productivity
If maintenance activities are spread out over time, then resource utilization improves, but the number of service trips and ecological footprint increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system analyzes multiple component lifetimes and maintenance needs simultaneously to identify opportunities for combining maintenance activities. By merging maintenance tasks for multiple components into single service trips, the system improves resource utilization while reducing the total number of trips and associated ecological footprint.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces a new optimization dimension that considers the temporal and spatial coordination of multiple maintenance activities. By analyzing maintenance schedules across different components and locations together, the system finds optimal windows for combined service operations, transforming separate maintenance plans into integrated schedules that reduce overall environmental impact.
3Measurement precision
If physics-based modeling is used to determine remaining lifetimes, then maintenance timing precision improves, but computational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the technical system into individual components or subsystems, each with its own physics-based lifetime model. This allows parallel computation of remaining lifetimes for multiple components, managing computational complexity through modular processing while maintaining high precision for each component's maintenance timing prediction.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to Computer-implemented method for optimizing a maintenance schedule for maintaining a technical system or at least one technical component of the technical system, comprising the steps: a. Providing a plurality of sustainability data items; b. Providing at least one remaining lifetime for at least one sustainability data item of the plurality of sustainability data items; wherein the at least one remaining lifetime is determined using physics-based modeling or at least one pre-specified maintenance plan; c. Optimizing the maintenance schedule with regard to a minimal ecological footprint based on the plurality of sustainability data items and the at least one remaining lifetime; and d. Providing the optimized maintenance schedule as output. Further, the invention relates to a corresponding computer program product and technical system.