Advanced search
2 files | 1.25 MB Add to list

Vessel route planning optimization combined with time windows versus worker scheduling for offshore windmill maintenance

Erik De Kuyffer (UGent) , Luc Martens (UGent) , Wout Joseph (UGent) and Toon De Pessemier (UGent)
Author
Organization
Project
Abstract
The high fuel prices and the important costs associated with windmill downtime during maintenance urge the need to minimize travel time and scheduling of jobs in a short time period. Since landing in windmills at sea is difficult and depends on meteorological parameters, the constraint of maintenance windows is added when searching for the optimal route. To minimize the distance traveled, the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (VRPTW) is solved, using three different methods. The VRPTW is applied to two separate databases, namely various sets of windmills to be maintained and several numbers of customers to be serviced. Applications with 8 to 175 windmills, divided over 3 farms have shown that the VRPTW solved by using three different methods resulted in a similar relative gain in travel distance, compared to a randomly chosen route. The main difference between the methods studied is the amount of calculation time needed, which varies from 1 second to 6 minutes for the different methods. To demonstrate the general applicability, the same three methods were executed on a set of service tasks performed at 8 to 40 customers of a window decoration company, distributed throughout Belgium, resulting in similar outcomes. In a second part of the paper, the Job Shop Scheduling Problem (JSSP) is solved to minimize the total maintenance span of offshore windmills as an additional objective function. This led to a relative gain of up to 62% in maintenance time, compared to the total maximum maintenance span for an application of 40 windmills. Finally, both objectives, minimal distance and minimal maintenance time span, are combined, resulting in a set of non-dominated maintenance sequences that can be used by the planner.
Keywords
VRPTW, VRPy, OR Tools, ACO, Job Shop Scheduling, Pareto.

Downloads

  • (...).pdf
    • full text (Published version)
    • |
    • UGent only
    • |
    • PDF
    • |
    • 634.56 KB
  • WICA 1271a.pdf
    • full text (Accepted manuscript)
    • |
    • open access
    • |
    • PDF
    • |
    • 613.13 KB

Citation

Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:

MLA
De Kuyffer, Erik, et al. “Vessel Route Planning Optimization Combined with Time Windows versus Worker Scheduling for Offshore Windmill Maintenance.” INTELLI 2025 : The Fourteenth International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Applications, IARIA, 2025, pp. 30–38.
APA
De Kuyffer, E., Martens, L., Joseph, W., & De Pessemier, T. (2025). Vessel route planning optimization combined with time windows versus worker scheduling for offshore windmill maintenance. INTELLI 2025 : The Fourteenth International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Applications, 30–38. Portugal: IARIA.
Chicago author-date
De Kuyffer, Erik, Luc Martens, Wout Joseph, and Toon De Pessemier. 2025. “Vessel Route Planning Optimization Combined with Time Windows versus Worker Scheduling for Offshore Windmill Maintenance.” In INTELLI 2025 : The Fourteenth International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Applications, 30–38. Portugal: IARIA.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
De Kuyffer, Erik, Luc Martens, Wout Joseph, and Toon De Pessemier. 2025. “Vessel Route Planning Optimization Combined with Time Windows versus Worker Scheduling for Offshore Windmill Maintenance.” In INTELLI 2025 : The Fourteenth International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Applications, 30–38. Portugal: IARIA.
Vancouver
1.
De Kuyffer E, Martens L, Joseph W, De Pessemier T. Vessel route planning optimization combined with time windows versus worker scheduling for offshore windmill maintenance. In: INTELLI 2025 : the Fourteenth International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Applications. Portugal: IARIA; 2025. p. 30–8.
IEEE
[1]
E. De Kuyffer, L. Martens, W. Joseph, and T. De Pessemier, “Vessel route planning optimization combined with time windows versus worker scheduling for offshore windmill maintenance,” in INTELLI 2025 : the Fourteenth International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Applications, Lisbon, Portugal, 2025, pp. 30–38.
@inproceedings{01KFRQYWDF29W5PAXBC5ERGXC2,
  abstract     = {{The high fuel prices and the important costs associated with windmill downtime during maintenance urge the
need to minimize travel time and scheduling of jobs in a short time period. Since landing in windmills at sea is difficult and depends on meteorological parameters, the constraint of maintenance windows is added when searching for the optimal route. To minimize the distance traveled, the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (VRPTW) is solved, using three different methods. The VRPTW is applied to two separate databases,
namely various sets of windmills to be maintained and several numbers of customers to be serviced. Applications with 8 to 175 windmills, divided over 3 farms have shown that the VRPTW solved by using three different methods resulted in a similar relative gain in travel distance, compared to a randomly chosen
route. The main difference between the methods studied is the amount of calculation time needed, which varies from 1 second to 6 minutes for the different methods. To demonstrate the general applicability, the same three methods were executed on a set of service tasks performed at 8 to 40 customers of a window decoration company, distributed throughout Belgium, resulting in similar outcomes. In a second part of the paper, the Job
Shop Scheduling Problem (JSSP) is solved to minimize the total maintenance span of offshore windmills as an additional objective function. This led to a relative gain of up to 62% in maintenance time, compared to the total maximum maintenance span for an application of 40 windmills. Finally, both objectives, minimal distance and minimal maintenance time span, are combined, resulting in a set of non-dominated maintenance sequences that
can be used by the planner.}},
  author       = {{De Kuyffer, Erik and Martens, Luc and Joseph, Wout and De Pessemier, Toon}},
  booktitle    = {{INTELLI 2025 : the Fourteenth International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Applications}},
  isbn         = {{9781685582364}},
  issn         = {{2308-4065}},
  keywords     = {{VRPTW,VRPy,OR Tools,ACO,Job Shop Scheduling,Pareto.}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  location     = {{Lisbon, Portugal}},
  pages        = {{30--38}},
  publisher    = {{IARIA}},
  title        = {{Vessel route planning optimization combined with time windows versus worker scheduling for offshore windmill maintenance}},
  url          = {{https://www.thinkmind.org/articles/intelli_2025_2_20_60007.pdf}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}