Prediction model optimization of gas turbine remaining useful life based on transfer learning and simultaneous distillation pruning algorithm

For the application of deep learning (DL) models in the field of remaining useful life (RUL) prediction and predictive maintenance (PdM) of complex equipment, the insufficient training data and large model are the two major problems. To address these issues, a model training method based on transfer learning and a simultaneous distillation pruning algorithm were proposed. By introducing prior knowledge, three transfer learning modes are devised to reduce the demand of training data. Additionally, the simultaneous distillation pruning algorithm was devised to make the model lightweight, and an iterative pruning method was adopted to trim the large neural network model. By analyzing the performance of different transfer learning modes, the effectiveness of the proposed method can be demonstrated. The number of model parameters and the performance before and after pruning were compared. The results demonstrated that, without significant alterations to the prediction performance, the proposed model exhibited the capability to markedly reduce the number of model parameters. Based on the proposed methods, the challenges of insufficient data and efficiency encountered by DL models could be effectively addressed.