A hybrid Bi-LSTM model for data-driven maintenance planning

Modern industries dependent on reliable asset operation under constrained resources employ intelligent maintenance methods to maximize efficiency. However, classical maintenance methods rely on assumed lifetime distributions and suffer from estimation errors and computational complexity. The advent of Industry 4.0 has increased the use of sensors for monitoring systems, while deep learning (DL) models have allowed for accurate system health predictions, enabling data-driven maintenance planning. Most intelligent maintenance literature has used DL models solely for remaining useful life (RUL) point predictions, and a substantial gap exists in further using predictions to inform maintenance plan optimization. The few existing studies that have attempted to bridge this gap suffer from having used simple system configurations and non-scalable models. Hence, this paper develops a hybrid DL model using Monte Carlo dropout to generate RUL predictions which are used to construct empirical system reliability functions used for the optimization of the selective maintenance problem (SMP). The proposed framework is used to plan maintenance for a mission-oriented series k-out-of-n:G system. Numerical experiments compare the framework's performance against prior SMP methods and highlight its strengths. When minimizing cost, maintenance plans are frequently produced that result in mission survival while avoiding unnecessary repairs. The proposed method is usable in large-scale, complex scenarios and various industrial contexts. The method finds exact solutions while avoiding the need for computationally-intensive parametric reliability functions.