Title:
Distribution system reliability enhancement

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Author(s)
Yu, Xuebei
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Advisor(s)
Meliopoulos, A. P. Sakis
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Abstract
Practically all everyday life tasks from economic transactions to entertainment depend on the availability of electricity. Some customers have come to expect a higher level of power quality and availability from their electric utility. Federal and state standards are now mandated for power service quality and utilities may be penalized if the number of interruptions exceeds the mandated standards. In order to meet the requirement for safety, reliability and quality of supply in distribution system, adaptive relaying and optimal network reconfiguration are proposed. By optimizing the system to be better prepared to handle a fault, the end result will be that in the event of a fault, the minimum number of customers will be affected. Thus reliability will increase. The main function of power system protection is to detect and remove the faulted parts as fast and as selectively as possible. The problem of coordinating protective relays in electric power systems consists of selecting suitable settings such that their fundamental protective function is met under the requirements of sensitivity, selectivity, reliability, and speed. In the proposed adaptive relaying approach, weather data will be incorporated as follows. By using real-time weather information, the potential area that might be affected by the severe weather will be determined. An algorithm is proposed for adaptive optimal relay setting (relays will optimally react to a potential fault). Different types of relays (and relay functions) and fuses will be considered in this optimization problem as well as their coordination with others. The proposed optimization method is based on mixed integer programming that will provide the optimal relay settings including pickup current, time dial setting, and different relay functions and so on. The main function of optimal network reconfiguration is to maximize the power supply using existing breakers and switches in the system. The ability to quickly and flexibly reconfigure the power system of an interconnected network of feeders is a key component of Smart Grid. New technologies are being injected into the distribution systems such as advanced metering, distribution automation, distribution generation and distributed storage. With these new technologies, the optimal network reconfiguration becomes more complicated. The proposed algorithms will be implemented and demonstrated on a realistic test system. The end result will be improved reliability. The improvements will be quantified with reliability indexes such as SAIDI.
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Date Issued
2011-05-17
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