scholarly journals A modified backward/forward sweep-based method for reconfiguration of unbalanced distribution networks

Author(s):  
Michel Duran-Quintero ◽  
John E. Candelo ◽  
Jose Soto-Ortiz

<span lang="EN-US">A three-phase unbalanced power flow method can provide a more realistic scenario of how distribution networks operate. The backward/forward sweep-based power flow method </span><span lang="EN-AU">(BF-PF)</span><span lang="EN-US"> has been used for many years as an important computational tool to solve the power flow for unbalanced and radial power systems. However, some of the </span><span lang="EN-AU">few </span><span lang="EN-US">available research tools produce many errors when </span><span lang="EN-AU">they </span><span lang="EN-US">are used for </span><span lang="EN-AU">network </span><span lang="EN-US">reconfiguration </span><span lang="EN-AU">because the </span><span lang="EN-US">topology change</span><span lang="EN-AU">s</span><span lang="EN-AU">after multiple switch actions</span><span lang="EN-US"> and the nodes are disorganized continually. </span><span lang="EN-AU">T</span><span lang="EN-US">his paper presents </span><span lang="EN-AU">a modified</span><span lang="EN-AU">BF-PF for </span><span lang="EN-US">three-phase unbalanced radial </span><span lang="EN-AU">distribution networks</span><span lang="EN-US"> that is capable </span><span lang="EN-AU">of arranging</span><span lang="EN-US"> the system topology when reconfiguration changes the branch connections. A binary search is used to determine the connections between nodes, allowing the algorithm to avoid those problems when reconfiguration is carried out, regardless of node numbers. Tests are made to verify the usefulness of the proposed algorithm in both the IEEE 13-node test feeder and the 123-node test feeder, converging in every run where constraints are accomplished. This approach can be used easily for a large-scale feeder network reconfiguration.</span><span lang="EN-AU"> The full version of this modified </span><span lang="EN-US">backward/forward sweep</span><span lang="EN-AU"> algorithm is available for research at MathWorks</span><span lang="EN-US">.</span>

Computation ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Oscar Danilo Montoya ◽  
Juan S. Giraldo ◽  
Luis Fernando Grisales-Noreña ◽  
Harold R. Chamorro ◽  
Lazaro Alvarado-Barrios

The power flow problem in three-phase unbalanced distribution networks is addressed in this research using a derivative-free numerical method based on the upper-triangular matrix. The upper-triangular matrix is obtained from the topological connection among nodes of the network (i.e., through a graph-based method). The main advantage of the proposed three-phase power flow method is the possibility of working with single-, two-, and three-phase loads, including Δ- and Y-connections. The Banach fixed-point theorem for loads with Y-connection helps ensure the convergence of the upper-triangular power flow method based an impedance-like equivalent matrix. Numerical results in three-phase systems with 8, 25, and 37 nodes demonstrate the effectiveness and computational efficiency of the proposed three-phase power flow formulation compared to the classical three-phase backward/forward method and the implementation of the power flow problem in the DigSILENT software. Comparisons with the backward/forward method demonstrate that the proposed approach is 47.01%, 47.98%, and 36.96% faster in terms of processing times by employing the same number of iterations as when evaluated in the 8-, 25-, and 37-bus systems, respectively. An application of the Chu-Beasley genetic algorithm using a leader–follower optimization approach is applied to the phase-balancing problem utilizing the proposed power flow in the follower stage. Numerical results present optimal solutions with processing times lower than 5 s, which confirms its applicability in large-scale optimization problems employing embedding master–slave optimization structures.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (18) ◽  
pp. 5784
Author(s):  
Maria Eliza Kootte ◽  
Cornelis Vuik

This paper compares and assesses several numerical methods that solve the steady-state power flow problem on integrated transmission-distribution networks. The integrated network model consists of a balanced transmission and an unbalanced distribution network. It is important to analyze these integrated electrical power systems due to the changes related to the energy transition. We classified the existing integration methods as unified and splitting methods. These methods can be applied to homogeneous (complete three-phase) and hybrid (single-phase/three-phase) network models, which results in four approaches in total. These approaches were compared on their accuracy and numerical performance—CPU time and number of iterations—to demonstrate their applicability on large-scale electricity networks. Furthermore, their sensitivity towards the amount of distributed generation and the addition of multiple distribution feeders was investigated. The methods were assessed by running power flow simulations using the Newton–Raphson method on several integrated power systems up to 25,000 unknowns. The assessment showed that unified methods applied to hybrid networks performed the best on these test cases. The splitting methods are advantageous when complete network data sharing between system operators is not allowed. The use of high-performance techniques for larger test cases containing multiple distribution networks will make the difference in speed less significant.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 56-67
Author(s):  
Hiba Yahyaoui ◽  
Abdelkader Dekdouk ◽  
Saoussen Krichen

This article addresses the distribution network reconfiguration problem (DNRP) and the power flow method. The studied DNRP operates on standard configurations of electrical networks. The main objectives handled are the minimization of power loss, the number of switching operations and the deviations of bus voltages from their rated values. Metaheuristic approaches based on Greedy Iterated Local Search where proposed to solve the DNRP. A benchmarking testbed on standard systems well illustrates the incentive behind using GrILS for solving the DNRP. In addition, the proposed approaches and the power flow method where implemented on GPU architecture. The GPU implementation shows its effectiveness against the CPU in terms of time consuming specially for large-scale bus systems.


Computation ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 80
Author(s):  
John Fernando Martínez-Gil ◽  
Nicolas Alejandro Moyano-García ◽  
Oscar Danilo Montoya ◽  
Jorge Alexander Alarcon-Villamil

In this study, a new methodology is proposed to perform optimal selection of conductors in three-phase distribution networks through a discrete version of the metaheuristic method of vortex search. To represent the problem, a single-objective mathematical model with a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) structure is used. As an objective function, minimization of the investment costs in conductors together with the technical losses of the network for a study period of one year is considered. Additionally, the model will be implemented in balanced and unbalanced test systems and with variations in the connection of their loads, i.e., Δ− and Y−connections. To evaluate the costs of the energy losses, a classical backward/forward three-phase power-flow method is implemented. Two test systems used in the specialized literature were employed, which comprise 8 and 27 nodes with radial structures in medium voltage levels. All computational implementations were developed in the MATLAB programming environment, and all results were evaluated in DigSILENT software to verify the effectiveness and the proposed three-phase unbalanced power-flow method. Comparative analyses with classical and Chu & Beasley genetic algorithms, tabu search algorithm, and exact MINLP approaches demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed optimization approach regarding the final value of the objective function.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 11525
Author(s):  
Oscar Danilo Montoya ◽  
Luis Fernando Grisales-Noreña ◽  
Lázaro Alvarado-Barrios ◽  
Andres Arias-Londoño ◽  
Cesar Álvarez-Arroyo

This research addresses the problem of the optimal placement and sizing of (PV) sources in medium voltage distribution grids through the application of the recently developed Newton metaheuristic optimization algorithm (NMA). The studied problem is formulated through a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model where the binary variables regard the installation of a PV source in a particular node, and the continuous variables are associated with power generations as well as the voltage magnitudes and angles, among others. To improve the performance of the NMA, we propose the implementation of a discrete–continuous codification where the discrete component deals with the location problem and the continuous component works with the sizing problem of the PV sources. The main advantage of the NMA is that it works based on the first and second derivatives of the fitness function considering an evolution formula that contains its current solution (xit) and the best current solution (xbest), where the former one allows location exploitation and the latter allows the global exploration of the solution space. To evaluate the fitness function and its derivatives, the successive approximation power flow method was implemented, which became the proposed solution strategy in a master–slave optimizer, where the master stage is governed by the NMA and the slave stage corresponds to the power flow method. Numerical results in the IEEE 34- and IEEE 85-bus systems show the effectiveness of the proposed optimization approach to minimize the total annual operative costs of the network when compared to the classical Chu and Beasley genetic algorithm and the MINLP solvers available in the general algebraic modeling system with reductions of 26.89% and 27.60% for each test feeder with respect to the benchmark cases.


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