Detection of Frauds and Other Non-technical Losses in Power Utilities using Smart Meters: A Review

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 217-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanveer Ahmad ◽  
Qadeer Ul Hasan

Abstract Analysis of losses in power distribution system and techniques to mitigate these are two active areas of research especially in energy scarce countries like Pakistan to increase the availability of power without installing new generation. Since total energy losses account for both technical losses (TL) as well as non-technical losses (NTLs). Utility companies in developing countries are incurring of major financial losses due to non-technical losses. NTLs lead to a series of additional losses, such as damage to the network (infrastructure and the reduction of network reliability) etc. The purpose of this paper is to perform an introductory investigation of non-technical losses in power distribution systems. Additionally, analysis of NTLs using consumer energy consumption data with the help of Linear Regression Analysis has been carried out. This data focuses on the Low Voltage (LV) distribution network, which includes: residential, commercial, agricultural and industrial consumers by using the monthly kWh interval data acquired over a period (one month) of time using smart meters. In this research different prevention techniques are also discussed to prevent illegal use of electricity in the distribution of electrical power system.

2013 ◽  
Vol 791-793 ◽  
pp. 1889-1891
Author(s):  
Yan Li Fan ◽  
Qing En Li

The low-voltage distribution system is the key component of the electrical power system. Some analysis and research of the low-voltage distribution system is carried out in this paper, which provides some scientific basis to design the low-voltage distribution system. Firstly, the summarize of low-voltage distribution system is taken. The influence to productions and livings of low-voltage distribution system is introduced. Secondly, the mode of connection and design philosophy of low-voltage distribution system is studied in detail, especially the high-rise buildings low-voltage distribution system is concluded and summarized.


DYNA ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 82 (192) ◽  
pp. 141-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andres Felipe Panesso-Hernández ◽  
Juan Mora-Flórez ◽  
Sandra Pérez-Londoño

<p>The impedance-based approaches for fault location in power distribution systems determine a faulted line section. Next, these require of the estimation of the voltages and currents at one or both section line ends to exactly determine the fault location. It is a challenge because in most of the power distribution systems, measurements are only available at the main substation.  This document presents a modeling proposal of the power distribution system and an easy implementation method to estimate the voltages and currents at the faulted line section, using the measurements at the main substation, the line, load, transformer parameters and other serial and shunt connected devices and the power system topology. The approach here proposed is tested using a fault locator based on superimposed components, where the distance estimation error is lower than 1.5% in all of the cases. </p>


Author(s):  
Olalekan Kabiru Kareem ◽  
Aderibigbe Adekitan ◽  
Ayokunle Awelewa

Electric power is the bedrock of our modern way of life. In Nigeria, power supply availability, sufficiency and reliability are major operational challenges. At the generation and transmission level, effort is made to ensure status monitoring and fault detection on the power network, but at the distribution level, particularly within domestic consumer communities there are no fault monitoring and detection devices except for HRC fuses at the feeder pillar. Unfortunately, these fuses are sometimes replaced by a copper wire bridge at some locations rendering the system unprotected and creating a great potential for transformer destruction on overload. This study is focused on designing an on-site power system monitoring device to be deployed on selected household entry power cables for detecting and indicating when phase off, low voltage, high voltage, over current, and blown fuse occurs on the building’s incomer line. The fault indication will help in reducing troubleshooting time and also ensure quick service restoration. After design implementation, the test result confirms design accuracy, device functionality and suitability as a low-cost solution to power supply system fault monitoring within local communities.


Author(s):  
Pratul Arvind ◽  
Rudra prakash Maheswari

Electric Power Distribution System is a complex network of electrical power system. Also, large number of lines on a distribution system experiences regular faults which lead to high value of current. Speedy and precise fault location plays a pivotal role in accelerating system restoration which is a need of modern day. Unlike transmission system which involves a simple connection, distribution system has a very complicated structure thereby making it a herculean task to design the network for computational analysis. In this paper, the authors have simulated IEEE 13- node distribution system using PSCAD which is an unbalanced system and current samples are generated at the substation end. A Fuzzy c-mean (FCM) and statistical based approach has been used. Samples are transformed as clusters by use of FCM and fed to Expectation- Maximization (EM) algorithm for classifying and locating faults in an unbalanced distribution system. Further, it is to be kept in mind that the combination has not been used for the above purpose as per the literature available till date.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 334
Author(s):  
Esteban Pulido ◽  
Luis Morán ◽  
Felipe Villarroel ◽  
José Silva

In this paper, a new concept of short-circuit current (SCC) reduction for power distribution systems is presented and analyzed. Conventional fault current limiters (FCLs) are connected in series with a circuit breaker (CB) that is required to limit the short-circuit current. Instead, the proposed scheme consisted of the parallel connection of a current-controlled power converter to the same bus intended to reduce the amplitude of the short-circuit current. This power converter was controlled to absorb a percentage of the short-circuit current from the bus to reduce the amplitude of the short-circuit current. The proposed active short-circuit current reduction scheme was implemented with a cascaded H-bridge power converter and tested by simulation in a 13.2 kV industrial power distribution system for three-phase faults, showing the effectiveness of the short-circuit current attenuation in reducing the maximum current requirement in all circuit breakers connected to the same bus. The paper also presents the design characteristics of the power converter and its associated control scheme.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naveed Ashraf ◽  
Tahir Izhar ◽  
Ghulam Abbas

The suggested single-phase ac-to-ac matrix converter operated with inverting and noninverting characteristics may solve the grid voltage swell and sag problem in power distribution system, respectively. It is also employed as a direct frequency changer for domestic induction heating. The output voltage is regulated through duty cycle control of high frequency direct PWM (DPWM) and indirect PWM (IDPWM) switching devices. The DPWM control switches control the switching states of IDPWM switching devices. The inverting and noninverting characteristics are achieved with low voltage stresses and hence low dv/dt across the high and low frequency-controlled switches. This reduces their voltage rating and losses. The high voltage overshoot problem in frequency step-up operation is also analyzed. The sliding mode (SM) controller is employed to solve this problem. Pulse selective approach determines the power quality of load voltage. The validity of the mathematically computed values is carried out by modelling the proposed topology in MATLAB/Simulink environment and through hardware results.


2019 ◽  
Vol 217 ◽  
pp. 01020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarita Chulyukova ◽  
Nikolai Voropai

The paper considers the possibilities of increasing the flexibility of power distribution systems by real-time load management. The principles of the implementation of special automatic systems for this purpose are proposed. These systems enable some loads of specific consumers of the power distribution system switched to islanded operation to “shift” from the daily maximum to the minimum, which makes some generators available to connect certain essential consumers disconnected earlier by under-frequency load shedding system to the power system. The approach under consideration is illustrated by a power system with distributed generation.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 338
Author(s):  
Leslie Tracy ◽  
Praveen Kumar Sekhar

In this study, a low voltage solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB) was implemented for a DC distribution system using commercially available components. The design process of the high-side static switch was enabled through a voltage bias. Detailed functional testing of the current sensor, high-side switch, thermal ratings, analog to digital conversion (ADC) techniques, and response times of the SSCB was evaluated. The designed SSCB was capable of low-end lighting protection applications and tested at 50 V. A 15 A continuous current rating was obtained, and the minimum response time of the SSCB was nearly 290 times faster than that of conventional AC protection methods. The SSCB was implemented to fill the gap where traditional AC protection schemes have failed. DC distribution systems are capable of extreme faults that can destroy sensitive power electronic equipment. However, continued research and development of the SSCB is helping to revolutionize the power industry and change the current power distribution methods to better utilize clean renewable energy systems.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 5503
Author(s):  
Wen Fan ◽  
Ning Kang ◽  
Robert Hebner ◽  
Xianyong Feng

This paper summarizes the literature on detection of islanding resulting from distributed generating capabilities in a power distribution system, with emphasis on the rural distribution systems. It is important to understand the legacy technology and equipment in the rural distribution electrical environment due to the growth of power electronics and the potential for adding the new generations of intelligent sensors. The survey identified four areas needing further research: 1. Robustness in the presence of distribution grid disturbances; 2. the future role of artificial intelligence in the islanding application; 3. more realistic standard tests for the emerging electrical environment; 4. smarter sensors. In addition, this paper presents a synchro-phasor-based islanding detection approach based on a wireless sensor network developed by the University of Texas at Austin. Initial test results in a control hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL) simulation environment suggest the effectiveness of the developed method.


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