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.

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.U.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

The objective of the proposed research is to quantify the limits of overstressed and aging circuit breakers in terms of probability of failure and to provide guidelines to determine network reconfigurations, generator commitment, and economic dispatch strategies that account for these limits. The proposed temporary power system operating strategies address circuit breaker adequacy issues and allow overstressed breakers to be operated longer and more reliably until they are replaced with adequate equipment. The expansion of electric networks with new power sources (nuclear plants, distributed generation) results in increased short-circuit or fault currents levels. As fault currents increase, they will eventually exceed circuit breaker ratings. Circuit breakers exposed to fault currents in excess of their ratings are said to be overstressed, underrated, or inadequate. Insufficient ratings expose overstressed breakers to increased failure probabilities. Extensive common-mode outages caused by circuit breaker failures reduce the reliability of power systems. To durably avoid outages and system unreliability, overstressed breakers must eventually be replaced. Large-scale replacements of overstressed breakers cannot be completed in a short time because of budgetary limits, capital improvement schedules, and manufacturer-imposed constraints. Meanwhile, to preserve the ability of old and overstressed breakers to safely interrupt faults, short-circuit currents must be kept within the limits imposed by the ratings and the age of these breakers by using the substation reconfiguration and generator commitment strategies described in this study. The immediate benefit of the above-mentioned operating strategies is a reduction of the failure probability of overstressed breakers obtained by avoiding the interruption of currents in excess of breaker ratings. Other benefits include (i) increased network reliability, (ii) restored operating margins with respect to existing equipment, and (iii) prioritized equipment upgrades that enhance the long-term planning of power systems.

[Truncated introduction] A major contribution of this thesis is the observation that the N port impedance parameters for the distribution planes can be modelled as simple LC series elements in the frequency range over which the interesting interactions between the loading elements and the planes occur. Loosely speaking, the C represents the inter-plane capacitance and the L is associated with a first order frequency trend of the transfer and input impedances associated with the planes. In the literature, values for L have been obtained for power ground plane structures using curve fitting techniques [38]. In this thesis, formulae are developed for L based on the modal summation expression. As for the impedance case, the approach developed in the thesis that removes the singular behaviour, results in computational efficient expressions. Preliminary results on the simple LC model were presented by the author in [42, 43] The results reported in the thesis extend this work in the light of the new impedance model proposed. The simple LC characterisation enables the development of new low frequency expression for the input and transfer impedance for ports on planes loaded with many decoupling capacitors. The expressions are based on a one off frequency independent decomposition of the inductance matrix associated with the placement of the capacitors. The eigen-mode decomposition eliminates the need for matrix inversion at each frequency point and leads to an efficient computational procedure for calculating the impedance of loaded planes. Furthermore, the interaction between the capacitors and planes is clearly seen in the analytical expressions. This has led to new insights regarding the interaction of multiple capacitors with supply planes in terms of location, resonance mechanisms, pole locations and damping. These insights are beneficial to the understanding and optimisation of printed circuit board power distribution systems.

Mémoire (M.Eng.)--Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 2001. / Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Thèse (M.Eng.) -- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, programme extensionné a l'Université du Québec à Rimouski, 2004. / Bibliogr.: f. 97-104. Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Thèse (M.Eng.) -- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, programme extensionné à l'Université du Québec à Rimouski, 2004. / Bibliogr.: f. 147-150. Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005. / Madhavan Swaminathan, Committee Chair ; Sung Kyu Lim, Committee Member ; Abhijit Chatterjee, Committee Member ; David C. Keezer, Committee Member ; C. P. Wong, Committee Member. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.