- Author
- Levy, J.
- Title
- Equipment Maintenance for Energy Conversion. Final Report.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC
- Report
- NBSIR 77-1210, February 1977, 55 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Keywords
- energy conversion | maintenance | dynamic programming | economic analysis | Markov decision process | algorithms
- Abstract
- A general model of equipment performance as a function of maintenance is developed that permits quantification of the optimal level of maintenance in terms of performance attainment and relative factor costs. The model formulation is that of a finite state, finite action Markovian decision process. The report supplies a listing for a program in BASIC of the policy improvement algorithm for finding a best policy. The model will help maintenance engineers, building managers and others responsible for making decisions concerning maintenance policies in selecting economically efficient levels of maintenance for elements of building service equipment. The report also contains an illustrative example applying the model to the maintenance of an air handling unit.