Using Markov Indices to determine Stationary Point on the 33kv Feeders Emanating from TCN Benin City

Abstract

Engineering systems are usually prone to failure especially if the nature and quality of maintenance adopted in the system is questionable. Although, there exists maintenance department saddled with the responsibility of identifying and clearing of failures within the network, however, the rate of failure as a result of poor maintenance which is visible in the form of weak distribution line, low voltage profile and poor protection in the network is on the increase. Maintenance is yet to be seen as a product by systems operator/manager hence, only limited resources is deployed to it. In this paper, therefore, the Feeders Stationary Point FSP was determined using the Markovian model. The obtained results show that GRA, Guinness, Koko, Switchstation and Ikpoba-dam feeders will approach their FSPs at 98.9%, 87%, and 87.1%, 93% and 93.8% respectively. At this point, the behavior of the feeders is said to be at its optimal level with respect to the maintenance resources deployed to it. The results from the paper will not only be useful in the Nigerian Power System Network (NPSN) but also in military engineering and all engineering systems where failure data are available.