Journal of the Operational Research Society (2008) 59, 503 --509

2008 Operational Research Society Ltd. All rights reserved. 0160-5682/08 $30.00
www.palgrave-journals.com/jors

Preventive maintenance scheduling of

multi-cogeneration plants using integer programming
M Alardhi1 and AW Labib2
1 University

of Manchester, Manchester, UK; and 2 University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK

Maintenance scheduling of cogeneration plants, which produce both electric power and desalinated water, is a
typical complex process with long-term operations and planning problems. The plants maintenance scheduling
process has to determine the appropriate schedule for preventive maintenance, while satisfying all the system
constraints and maintaining adequate system availability. It is an optimization problem and the maintenance and
system constraints include the crew constraint, maintenance window constraint and time limitation constraint.
In this paper, an integer linear-programming model, which has been developed, is described which schedules
the preventive maintenance tasks in a multi-cogeneration plant. Results of a test example of such a plant
situated in Kuwait are presented to show the applicability of the approach.
Journal of the Operational Research Society (2008) 59, 503 509. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602386
Published online 11 April 2007
Keywords: cogeneration plant; maintenace scheduling; zero-one integer programming; preventive maintenance

Introduction
Desalting/desalination/desalinization mean the same thing,
that is the removal of salts from seawater or brackish water.
Over three quarters of the earths surface is covered with salt
water. This water is too salty to sustain human life, farming
or industry. The importance of salt removal from ocean water
or other saline water resources reaches far beyond its mere
technological aspects, because the availability of fresh water
has a decisive effect on the pattern of human development.
The growth in world population and increased industrialization coupled with global warming have intensified the quest
for fresh water. Control of water supplies can be a potential
source of conflict among nations. Recent fresh water shortages in Kuwait and in many parts of the world have cast a
spotlight on the problem and led to a greatly increased interest
in it. Cogeneration plants are the main source of fresh water
in many regions of the world and are now used in about 120
countries. Of this total, approximately 50% of this desalting
capacity is used to desalt seawater, mainly in the Middle East
(Klaus, 1990).
Kuwait is an arid country, situated in the north-western
corner of the Arabian Gulf. The Government, through the
Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) is responsible for
supplying water to the population. The MEW has met 700%
growth of demand for electricity and water in the last 25
years by the construction of a system of cogeneration plants
Correspondence: M Alardhi, School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil
Engineering, P.O. Box 88, University of Manchester, Manchester M60
1QD, UK.
E-mail: mohsen.alardhi@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk

using multi stage flash desalination, now totalling 9.0 GW

and 320 MIGD (million imperial gallons per day) (Statistic,
2003). The plants are identical in layout but different in size
and installation capacity. The plants have several units, each
unit consists of a boiler, a turbo-generator and a distiller as
shown in Figure 1.
The units have the following component:
boilers producing high-pressure steam from fuel,
turbo-generator producing electric power from highpressure steam,
desalination producing desalination water from salt water
low-pressure steam.
The units in a plant are connected to each other by means of
common steam headers forming a steam piping network in
the plant. The steam headers connect the units so that steam
from a boiler in one unit can supply the distiller in another
unit. The water produced by a plant is stored in a reservoir
facility. This is then used to serve a predicted demand at each
time step of the planning horizon. The system should also
satisfy a demand for electric power at each time step.
The structure of this paper is as follows: problem background and definition are given in the next section, followed
by a section focussed on mathematical formulation, an illustrative example is given and a conclusion is presented in the
final section.

Problem background and definition

Cogeneration for power and fresh water production has been
practiced by utilities in the Middle East for many years as

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Journal of the Operational Research Society Vol. 59, No. 4

BOILER

Production Electricity
(MW)

Steam

TURBINE

Production Water
(MIG/Day)

DISTILLER

Figure 1

Maximum
RESERVOIR
Minimum

Layout of one unit of a cogeneration plant.

a reliable, efficient and economic means of both generating

power and desalting sea water. An important problem in a
cogeneration plant is the long-term maintenance scheduling
(MS) of generation and desalination units. MS outage has
a great effect on system reliability, unit availability and
production cost. Past experiences have shown that effective
scheduling could save considerable operational costs that
would help the electric and water utilities to be more competitive in terms of the energy and water price while increasing
system reliability (El-nashar and Khan, 1991; El-Sharh et al,
1998).
Zurn and Quintana (1975) define MS process as one
in which the maintenance outages of each unit have to be
scheduled in some optimal way and satisfying a number of
constraints, over a planning interval of m periods. According
to Yamayee (1982), the MS process is specifying dates at
which manpower is to be allocated to an overhaul of a major
functional element or group of elements in a single power
plant such that overall system security level is acceptable.
Therefore, the cogeneration plant MS process is concerned
with when, and in what sequence, units should be taken
down for maintenance in order to maximize the unit utilization level (minimize unit idle time) and make the best use of
available manpower and maintenance equipment (El-Sharh
et al, 1998; Moro and Ramos, 1999; Leou and Yih, 2000).
There are similarities between steam power plants and
cogeneration units. Both are complex systems, with (typically) oil-fired boilers generating steam for feeding into the
steam turbine, which is coupled with a turbo generator to
generate electrical power. In cogeneration units, the boiler
and steam turbine are linked to the desalination unit. The
combined production of power and water is the most economical way to simultaneously satisfy the demands for electricity
and water; similar process to the cogeneration problem have
been treated in, for example, Baughman et al (1989), Bos
et al (1996) and Puttgen and MacGregor (1989). References
treating desalination include El-nashar and Khan (1991), Kent
Coleman (1971) and Moslehi et al (1991).
Several methods have been proposed in the literature
to solve turbo-generators MS which have similarities with
cogeneration units. The solution methods can be categorized
as follows: exact and heuristic approaches, which can then
be further separated on a lower level into branch-and-bound

decomposition, column generation, and techniques such as

tabu search, simulated annealing, evolutionary algorithms
and others including meta-heuristics. References treating MS
for turbines include Dopazo and Merrill (1975), Zurn and
Quintana (1975), Edwin and Curtius (1990), Satoh and Nara
(1991) and Yellen et al (1992).
The MS problem can be defined as a constrained optimization problem with constraints reflecting the nature of the
system under study. The following two types of objective
functions have been used:
A cost-objective function; which is composed of the sum
of production cost and the maintenance cost.
A reliability objective function, which involves deterministic reliability objective that levels the capacity reserve,
and stochastic reliability that includes load uncertainties
and generating forced outage (Yamayee, 1982).
This paper presents a zero-one integer programming model
for the design of an optimal MS for cogeneration plants in
order to maximize the available number of operational units
in each plant. This objective function can be extended to
include the cost for maintenance and also it can be extended
to include production demand, but the aim of this paper is
to formulate the objective so as to maximize the available
number of operational units in each plant. The results of
the model are the values of the decision variables of zero-one
value which indicate if the studied equipment should start its
maintenance through the planned period or not, for all equipment in the plant. As mentioned above, the studied cogeneration plant consist of several units, each unit includes three
types of equipment and the maintenance planned horizon is 1
year, that is 52 weeks. Our goal is to schedule the preventive
maintenance task for a number of (r plants) which consist of
(unit i = 1, . . . , m and equipment j, j = b for boiler, j = t
for turbine and j = d for distiller) in order to maximize the
available number of operational units in each plant over the
operational planning period k, subject to the following units
maintenance constraints:

maintenance window constraint,

maintenance completion,
crew availability,
precedence relationship.

M Alardhi and AW LabibPreventive maintenance scheduling of multi-cogeneration plants

505

The mathematical model of the water distillers maintenance

planning and scheduling is introduced in the next section
using zero-one integer programming and it is an extension to
Alardhis work in Alardhi and Price (2004).

preventive maintenance. Mathematically, the preventive maintenance window can be expressed as


1 if k < Eri jk or k > L ri j
yri jk =
(4)
0 if Eri jk
k
L ri j

Mathematical formulation

where Eri j is the earliest time equipment j in the unit i in

plant r can be taken for maintenance; and L ri j the latest
time equipment j in the unit i in plan r can be taken for
maintenance.
Thus, yri jk is fixed to 1 before the earliest and after the
latest allowable starting period for equipment js maintenance
in unit is in plant r s and can be or 1 between those times.

Problem formulation
Decision variables

1 if the equipment j in unit i in plant r
xri jk =
during period k in operational status
0 otherwise

(1)

Also define

1 if the equipment j in unit i in plant r is not in
yri jk =
preventing maintenance during period k (2)
0 otherwise
where r represents the plant number. r = 1, 2, 3, . . . , g; i
represents the unit number. i =1, 2, 3, . . . , m; j represents the
equipment type. j = 1, 2, 3, . . . , n; k represents the number
of maintenance period. k = 1, 2, 3, . . . , h.
The decision variable xri jk is set to 0 for two reasons:
either the equipment j in unit i in plant r is down for
preventive maintenance during period k, that is yri jk = 0, or
if the equipment is not on preventive maintenance but idle,
that is yri jk = 1. This implies that equipment might not be
on maintenance (yri jk = 1), but does not necessarily imply
that the equipment is in operation (xri jk = 1). The equipment
could simply be idle. Therefore, the following constraints are
needed to link variables xri jk with variables yri jk .
xri jk
yri jk for all r, i, j and k

(3)

Maintenance completion
This constraint will ensure that the maintenance time for each
equipment must occupy the required time duration without
interruption. This means that once the maintenance of equipment has begun we cannot move the maintenance tools
and manpower or other resources to other equipment. For
example, if equipment t in unit i in plant r starts maintenance
on week 6, and the maintenance duration for equipment t is
4 weeks, this implies that yrit6 = yrit7 = yrit8 = yrit9 = 0. To
model this constraint mathematically, we introduce another
zero-one decision variable that will represent the equipment
starting maintenance period.
Let

0 if equipment j in unit i in plant r starts its
sri jk =
1

maintenance window,
maintenance completion,
logical constraints,
resource constraints,
maintenance crew.

Maintenance window
It is a requirement that each equipment must be maintained
regularly. This is necessary to keep its efficiency at a reasonable level, to keep the incidence of forced outages low and
to prolong the life of the equipment. This can be achieved by
specifying a latest time that the equipment can be operating
without maintenance and the earliest time it can be put on

(5)

Then the maintenance completion will have the following

form

k

Sri jq for Eri j
k
Eri j +Dri j 1 (6)
yri jk = 1k+
q=1

Set of constraints
The MS problem is a constraints optimization problem, where
we have quantities to be maximized or minimized according
to certain constraints. In this model, the following constraints
are taken into account:

preventive maintenance on period k

otherwise

yri jk =

1 Dri j

k


Sri jq

for Eri j +Dri j
k
L ri j

(7)

q=k=1Dri j
L ri j Dri j +1

sri jk = L ri j Dri j

(8)

k=1
L ri j


sri jk = L ri j Eri j

(9)

k=1

where Dri j is the duration of maintenance for equipment j in

the unit i in plant r.
When a preventive maintenance job starts on any equipment
j in period k, Equations (6) and (7) ensure that this job will
complete its maintenance duration before it starts another job.
Equations (8) and (9) will ensure that in period (L ri j Dri j )
and onwards there will be no new maintenance job to start,
but in these periods we can complete the maintenance jobs

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Journal of the Operational Research Society Vol. 59, No. 4

Erijk Erij+Drij1
Erij

Erij+Drij

Lrij Drij

Lrij

Erij+Drij k Lrij

Figure 2

Illustration of maintenance completion example.

which have been started before as illustrated in Figure 2. For

example, if we take Eri j to be 1, L ri j to be 10 and Dri j to
be 2, then in period 8, hence (L ri j Dri j ) and onwards there
will be no new maintenance job to start, but we can complete
the maintenance jobs which have been started before.

Resource constraints. The following constraints will ensure

that no more than the available amount of resources for maintenance is committed
m


(1 yrr jk )Rr jkp
T R r jkp

i=1

Logical constraints. Logical constraints are used to model

certain relationships among the plants and the units operational status. These constraints fall into the following categories: only two units in each plant can be down at the same
time, for example (u) unit in each plant. These units should
not be down simultaneously under any circumstances, since
there would be a huge loss in production. This constraint can
be represented mathematically as follows:
m


xri jk  m u

(10)

i=1

j = 1, 2, 3, . . . , n
(k runs over all time intervals) k = 1, 2, 3, . . . , h
(u is input data which indicate the number of maximum
unit that are allowed for maintenance in period k)
Since both decision variables are binary (0 or 1), the above
constraint assures that in any time interval at most u units in
each plant could be under maintenance.
The other logical constraints are the required (must) relationship between equipment. Most relationship constraints
for any equipment specify the other equipment that must be
concurrently operational. For example, if one of the turbines
in unit i is operational, then the boiler in the same unit i must
also be operational. This is modelled as follows:
xritk
xribk ; r = 1, 2, 3, . . . , g, i = 1, 2, 3, . . . , m

(11)

yritk
yribk ; r = 1, 2, 3, . . . , g, i = 1, 2, 3, . . . , m

(12)

The above constraint assures that in any time interval when

the steam turbine xritk is on xritk = 1, the boiler xribk must
also be on xribk = 1. Note that if xribk is on, the constraint
does not force xritk to be on. Similarly, it will ensure that in
any time interval when yritk is not in maintenance yritk = 1,
then yribk must not be in maintenance. Note that if yritk = 0,
which means it is under maintenance, it will not force yribk
to be under maintenance.

r = 1, 2, 3, . . . , g
k = 1, 2, 3, . . . , h
p = 1, 2, 3, . . . , f
j = 1, 2, 3, . . . , n

(13)

where Rr jkp is the amount of resource type p needed by

equipment j in plant r during period k; T R r jkp the total
amount of p resource available for equipment j in plant r
during period k; and p the number of resources.
Maintenance crew. An essential requirement for modelling
this problem is the maximum number of units that can be
taken down for maintenance at the same time. This constraint
is related to the manpower availability. Two issues must be
considered: there should be no simultaneous shutdown of
units that require maintenance by the same crew, and no more
than a fixed number of units can be served at one time because
of the limited availability of crew. This constraint can be
represented mathematically as follows:
m


(1 yri jk )Cr jk
T C r jk

i=1

r = 1, 2, 3, . . . , g
k = 1, 2, 3, . . . , h
j = 1, 2, 3, . . . , n

(14)

where Cr jk is the amount of manpower required for equipment

j in plant r during period k; and T C r jk the total amount
of manpower available for equipment j in plant r during
period k.
Objective function. The objective function of the model is
given by:
Max

g
m 
n 
h


r =1 i=1 j=1 k=1

xri jk

(15)

M Alardhi and AW LabibPreventive maintenance scheduling of multi-cogeneration plants

507

Figure 3 LINGO solver status.

where xri jk represents the available number of all equipments j in all units i in all plants r through the studied
period k. So the mathematical formulation of the preventive
maintenance scheduling for the desalination plants takes the
following form:
Max

g 
m 
n 
h


xri jk
yri jk

1k

+
S

q=1 ri jq
yri jk =
1Dri j

q=K =1+Dri j

i = 1, 2, 3, . . . , m
j = 1, 2, 3, . . . , n
for Eri j
k
Eri j +Dri j 1

Sri jq for Eri j +Dri j
k
L ri j

sri jk = L ri j Dri j

k=1
L ri j

k=1
m


sri jk = L ri j Eri j
xri jk  m u

i=1

xritk
xribk
yritk
yribk
m

(1 yr jk )Rr jkp
T R r jkp
i=1
m

(1 yri jk )Cr jk
T C r jk
i=1

k = 1, 2, 3, . . . , h
p = 1, 2, 3, . . . , f

L ri j Dri j +1

xri jk , yri jk , sri jk  0

0
0
0
, yri jk =
, sri jk =
xri jk =
1
1
1
r = 1, 2, 3, . . . , g

xri jk

r =1 i=1 j=1 k=1

subject to :

and

Illustrative example and discussion of results

To test the model outlined in this paper, a scheduling of
preventive maintenance task for Kuwait cogeneration plants
is investigated. The example consists of two plants, each one
consists of seven units. The planning horizon is 52 weeks and
the total number of equipment included is 15 in each plant.
The maintenance constraints included are the following: maintenance window, maintenance completion, maintenance crew,
resource constraint and must relationship constraint between
equipment as outlined earlier.
For the maintenance window, the earliest and latest maintenance limits can be determined from previous experience
of people work in the plants; usually the maintenance period
starts at the season of the low demand, for this example
the earliest choosing is 1 Eri j = 1, and the latest choosing
is 52, L ri j = 52 maintenance duration on average take 24
weeks on order to complete. In this example, the maintenance

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Journal of the Operational Research Society Vol. 59, No. 4

Table 1
Equipment
Plant Unit type
1

Equipment maintenance schedule for the seven units in two plants

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52

Boiler
Turbine
Distiller
Boiler
Turbine
Distiller
Boiler
Turbine
Distiller
Boiler
Turbine
Distiller
Boiler
Turbine
Distiller
Boiler
Turbine
Distiller
Boiler
Turbine
Distiller
Boiler
Turbine
Distiller
Boiler
Turbine
Distiller
Boiler
Turbine
Distiller
Boiler
Turbine
Distiller
Boiler
Turbine
Distiller
Boiler
Turbine
Distiller
Boiler
Turbine
Distiller

duration has been taken to be 2 weeks for all equipment.

Maintenance crew and resource constraints generally have
a limitation (eg limitation of available crew and obtainable
resource). In this example, we assume there are no shortage
on those constraints.
An integer programming approach has been used to solve
the illustrative model using the LINGO modelling and optimization package (Schrage, 2002). LINGO solver status are
shown in Figure 3 and results of the solving example are
shown in Table 1, where shaded bars represent the weeks in
which equipments are on maintenance. Examining Table 1
reveals that all constraints outlined earlier have been satisfied;
maintenance window constraints in this example is between
week 1 and week 52.
And the example shows that all the preventive maintenance
tasks are scheduled between week 1 and week 52. The example also shows that when any preventive maintenance task
starts, it will continue until it completes its duration. The
logical constraints shown in constraints 10, 11 and 12 are
satisfied in this example. If one examines unit one in plant
one, it can be seen that the preventive maintenance of the
boiler and the turbine occur in the same period and hence it
satisfies the logical constraints (11) and (12) in this unit.
In this example the resource and crew constraints kept
constant, if we vary these two constraints, the final schedule
of the preventive maintenance task will change.

Conclusion
This paper presents a method for solving MS problem and
the method has been illustrated for a cogeneration plant in
Kuwait. The basic idea of the method is to model the problem
as zero-one integer problem. Mixed integer programming has
been shown to be a useful model for scheduling maintenance
tasks. An illustrative example shows the applicability of the
method, making its application for use in the cogeneration
plants.
The objective function of the model was to maximize the
available number of operational units in each plant. This
objective function can be extended to include the cost for
maintenance and also it can be extended to solve the MS and
the production of the units simultaneously by adding more
system constraints that deal with the demand of electricity
and water, since this will help both structure problem as well
as facilitate decision-making process. Also, fuzzy parameters
can be studied to cover any variation in the input data.
Benefits of the model are that it will help the people
working in maintenance to have an estimated scheduling for
there process and it will also aid people who work in OR
to understand the relationship among different processes in
order to work with this kind of issues.
Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the two anonymous
referees for their valuable feedback and constructive criticism.

M Alardhi and AW LabibPreventive maintenance scheduling of multi-cogeneration plants

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Received August 2005;

accepted November 2006 after one revision

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