The intent of this thesis is to investigate, develop, and apply techniques to determine the reliability and maintainability of populations of items. These techniques are to be used in determining the total life-time operating costs of the populations so that those items with the lowest life-time costs can be bought. To do this, the author has explored current techniques for determining compliance to some minimum required Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) in what is referred to as a Phase I testing. After the requirements of Phase I testing have been met, testing may be continued at the option of the contractor and confidence limits constructed about the Bid MTBF to determine compliance to it. Methods by which incentives or penalties may be rewarded or assessed to contractor as a result of the Phase II testing are included. The author next investigated techniques which can be used to determine the maintainability parameters and the accuracy of these parameters. Finally, since the reliability techniques explored were all based on the exponential distribution, techniques were included to prove if the failure rate was exponential. If not, discussions were incorporated on how to handle this situation. (85 pages)

The restructuring of the electric energy market and the proliferation of intermittent renewable-energy based power generation have introduced serious challenges to power system operation emanating from the uncertainties introduced to the system variables (electricity prices, congestion levels etc.). In order to economically operate the system and efficiently run the energy market, a statistical analysis of the system variables under uncertainty is needed. Such statistical analysis can be performed through an estimation of the statistical moments of these variables. In this thesis, the Point Estimate Methods (PEMs) are applied to the optimal power flow (OPF) problem to estimate the statistical moments of the locational marginal prices (LMPs) and total generation cost under system uncertainty. An extensive mathematical examination and risk analysis of existing PEMs are performed and a new PEM scheme is introduced. The applied PEMs consist of two schemes introduced by H.P. Hong, namely, the 2n and 2n+1 schemes, and a proposed combination between Hong's and M. E Harr's schemes. The accuracy of the applied PEMs in estimating the statistical moments of system LMPs is illustrated and the performance of the suggested combination of Harr's and Hong's PEMs is shown. Moreover, the risks of the application of Hong's 2n scheme to the OPF problem are discussed by showing that it can potentially yield inaccurate LMP estimates or run into unfeasibility of the OPF problem. In addition, a new PEM configuration is also introduced. This configuration is derived from a PEM introduced by E. Rosenblueth. It can accommodate asymmetry and correlation of input random variables in a more computationally efficient manner than its Rosenblueth's counterpart. / Master of Science

Submitted by Maria Aparecida (cidazen@gmail.com) on 2017-04-17T13:14:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Elson Moreira.pdf: 7883984 bytes, checksum: cf59b3b0b24a249a7fd9e2390b7f16de (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-17T13:14:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elson Moreira.pdf: 7883984 bytes, checksum: cf59b3b0b24a249a7fd9e2390b7f16de (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-10 / CNPQ / A problem of electric power quality that always affects the consumers of the distribution network are the harmonic distortions. Harmonic distortions arise from the presence of socalled harmonic sources, which are nonlinear equipment, i.e., equipment in which the voltage waveform differs from the current. Such equipment injects harmonic currents in the network generating distortions in the voltage waveform. Nowadays, the number of these equipment in the electrical network has increased considerably. However, the increasing use of such equipment over the network makes systems more vulnerable and prone to quality problems in the supply of electricity to consumers. In addition, it is important to note that in the current scenario, the generation of electricity from renewable sources, connected in the secondary distribution network, is increasing rapidly. This is mainly due to shortage and high costs of fossil fuels. In this context, the Photovoltaic Distributed Generation (PVDG), that uses the sun as a primary source for electric energy generation, is the main technology of renewable generation installed in distribution network. However, the PVDG is a potential source of harmonics, because the interface of the PVDG with the CA network is carried out by a CC/CA inverter, that is a highly nonlinear equipment. Thus, the electrical power quality problems associated with harmonic distortion in distribution networks tend to increase and be very frequent. One of the main indicators of harmonic distortion is the total harmonic distortion of voltage ( ) used by distribution utilities to limit the levels of harmonic distortion present in the electrical network. In the literature there are several deterministic techniques to estimate . These techniques have the disadvantage of not considering the uncertainties present in the electric network, such as: change in the network configuration, load variation, intermittence of the power injected by renewable distributed generation. Therefore, in order to provide a more accurate assessment of the harmonic distortions, this dissertation has as main objective to develop a probabilistic methodology to estimate the level of in secondary distribution networks considering the uncertainties present in the network and PVDG connected along the network. The methodology proposed in this dissertation is based on the combination of the following techniques: three-phase harmonic power flow in phase coordinate via method sum of admittance, point estimate method and series expansion of Gram-Charlier. The validation of the methodology was performed using the Monte Carlo Simulation. The methodology was tested in European secondary distribution network with 906 nodes of 416 V. The results were obtained by performing two case studies: without the presence of PVDG and with the PVDG connection. For the case studies, the following statistics for nodal were estimated: mean value, standard deviation and the 95% percentile. The results showed that the probabilistic estimation of is more complete, since it shows the variation of due to the uncertainties associated with harmonic sources and electric network. In addition, they show that the connection of PV-DG in the electric network significantly affects the levels of of the electric network. / Um problema de qualidade de energia elétrica que afeta os consumidores da rede de distribuição secundária são as distorções harmônicas. As distorções harmônicas são provenientes da presença das chamadas fontes de harmônicas que são equipamentos de características não-lineares, ou seja, equipamentos em que a forma de onda da tensão difere da de corrente. Tais equipamentos injetam correntes harmônicas na rede produzindo, portanto distorções na forma de onda da tensão. Nos dias atuais, a quantidade desses equipamentos na rede elétrica tem aumentado consideravelmente. Porém, o uso crescente desse tipo de equipamento ao longo da rede torna os sistemas mais vulneráveis e propensos a apresentarem problemas de qualidade no fornecimento de energia elétrica aos consumidores. Além disso, é importante destacar que no cenário atual, a geração de energia elétrica a partir de fontes renováveis, conectada na rede de distribuição secundária, está aumentando rapidamente. Isso se deve principalmente devido a escassez e altos custos dos combustíveis fosseis. Neste contexto, a Geração Distribuída Fotovoltaica (GDFV), que utiliza o sol como fonte primária para geração de energia elétrica, é a principal tecnologia de geração renovável instalada na rede de distribuição no Brasil. Contudo, a GDFV é uma potencial fonte de harmônica, pois a interface da GDFV com a rede CA é realizada por um inversor CC/CA, que é um equipamento altamente não-linear. Desde modo, os problemas de qualidade de energia elétrica associados à distorção harmônica nas redes de distribuição tendem a aumentar e a serem bem frequentes nos consumidores da rede de distribuição secundárias. Um dos principais indicadores de distorção harmônica é a distorção harmônica total de tensão ( do inglês “Total Harmonic Distortion of Voltage”) utilizada pelas concessionárias de energia elétrica para quantificar os níveis de distorção harmônica presentes na rede elétrica. Na literatura técnica existem várias técnicas determinísticas para estimar a . Essas técnicas possuem a desvantagem de não considerar as incertezas presentes na rede elétrica, tais como: mudança na configuração da rede, variação de carga e intermitência da potência injetada pela geração distribuída renovável. Portanto, a fim de fornecer uma avaliação mais precisa das distorções harmônicas, este trabalho tem como principal objetivo desenvolver uma metodologia probabilística para estimar o nível de em redes de distribuição secundária considerando as incertezas presentes na rede e na GDFV conectada ao longo da rede. A metodologia proposta nesta dissertação se baseia na combinação das seguintes técnicas: fluxo de potência harmônico trifásico em coordenadas de fase via método de soma de admitância, método de estimação por pontos e expansão em série de Gram-Charlier. Além disso, a validação da metodologia foi realizada utilizando a Simulação Monte Carlo. A metodologia desenvolvida foi testada na rede de distribuição secundária europeia com 906 nós de 416 V. Os resultados foram obtidos realizando dois casos de estudos: sem a presença de GDFV e com a conexão de GDFV. Para ambos os casos de estudo as seguintes estatísticas do nodal foram estimadas: valor médio, desvio padrão e o percentil de 95%. Os resultados demonstraram que a estimação probabilística da é mais completa, pois mostra a variação da devido às incertezas associadas com as fontes de harmônicas e as da rede elétrica. Os resultados também mostram que a conexão da GDFV afeta significativamente os níveis de da rede elétrica