The present invention relates to power distribution systems, and more particularly, to providing power distribution systems utilizing a restoration scheme to efficiently overcome power distribution system failures.
The basic function of a power system is to continuously maintain adequate and reliable supply of electric power. However, performing this function is not always possible because various types of failures occur randomly beyond the control of power system engineers. Power system planners, designers, and operators are generally concerned with the reliability of the power system and then calculate approximately the realistic availability of their system. Recently, this concern has been accentuated by increasing competition among utility companies due primarily to de-regulation of the electrical power industry. Now, utility companies that once shared information across a common electrical grid are competing against themselves to provide distinguishable services in an effort to sustain existing customers and attract new customers.
Residential and business customers alike are increasingly dependent on power. From a simple switch to complex manufacturing equipment, power is required everyday. As a result of this new competition and the importance of power to customers, power systems are required to provide reliable, dependable, and more affordable power. Globally, power system engineers who maintain the operation and control of electrical power are challenged daily by consequences of electrical power being disrupted that translates directly to the quality, reliability and cost of electrical power. Utility companies have taken notice since the consequences of long-term unavailability and persistent interruption of electric power could directly translate to a loss of power customers.
The techniques first used in practical applications of power system design were developed to account for random failures. These techniques were generally deterministic in nature. Their primary weakness was a lack of consideration for the stochastic nature of system behavior, customer demands, and equipment failures.
In an effort to overcome power system limitations, power system equipment manufacturers developed devices, such as, power distribution protective relays and reclosers with control and operation schemes to achieve automated restoration of power systems. Existing restoration schemes, however, are rigid, requiring pre-defined configurations of power distribution system equipment and requiring pre-determined device settings.
Presently, there exist power distribution equipment incorporating restoration schemes that assist in bringing a power distribution system online in the event of a fault or loss of voltage. However, these restoration schemes place inflexible limits on the power distribution system. Such limits include pre-defined quantity, configuration and operation settings of equipment used in a restoration scheme.
From the foregoing, it is appreciated that there exists a need for a power system and method providing a robust restoration scheme that can be applied to power distribution systems, independent of power system equipment configuration or settings.
The present invention provides automatic restoration of power distribution systems independent of power distribution system equipment, configuration and settings. A power distribution system has equipment in a variety of configurations; the present invention provides a solution such that in the event of a fault or loss of voltage, the equipment that are proximate to the fault, in a closed state, are all tripped to an open state. Subsequently, the equipment determines if there is voltage on either side of the equipment. If there is voltage on both sides, processing by the equipment ceases. However, if the contrary is true (e.g. one source of line voltage entering the equipment or the other source of line voltage leaving the equipment is de-energized), the equipment determines which source side is energized and initiates a close, such that current flows from the energized voltage source of the equipment to the de-energized source. In the event that the processing component is positioned in series to a power system circuit breaker the equipment is left open regardless.
The invention permits the power distribution system to perform the automated restoration regardless of the number of equipment, configuration of the equipment, or equipment settings.
The invention further provides the power distribution system comprise power distribution components having microprocessors and logic capable of processing voltage levels and/or current levels along and/or across a cooperating power line and controlling the flow of current along and/or potential drop across said cooperating power line.
The system and methods providing a restoration scheme for power distribution systems in accordance with the present invention are further described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Power Distribution Systems Overview:
Electrical transmission lines and power generation equipment must be protected against isolated faults and consequent short circuits, which could cause a collapse of the power system, serious and expensive equipment damage, and personal injury. It is the function of the protective relays, circuit breakers and reclosers, which monitor ac voltages and currents, to locate line faults and initiate isolation by the tripping of circuit breakers or reclosers.
Reclosers are usually used to minimize power distribution interruptions caused by transient (e.g. temporary) and/or permanent faults. Typically, during a system disturbance, large increases in current occur. Sensing a current increase, the recloser will open thereby cutting off current flow in order to protect power distribution system equipment connected to the power distribution system. Since many fault conditions are temporary, the recloser is designed to close after a short period of time, thereby re-establishing normal current flow. For example, during a thunderstorm, if lighting were to strike the distribution system, the power to one's home may be disrupted for few seconds causing lights and appliances to turn OFF (recloser opening), then ON (recloser closing). Once the recloser closes, if it senses the continued presence of increased current, it will again open. Such cycling between open and closed may occur a number of times before the recloser remains open. In this case, lockout occurs, a state in which the temporary fault becomes a permanent fault.
Comparatively, power distribution system protective relays and circuit breakers operate similarly to reclosers such that when circuit breakers open, they do not allow current to flow through, and when they are closed, allow current to pass.
To capitalize on the functions of today's power distribution system equipment, power distribution operators have developed restoration schemes to automate the process of reanimating a failed power distribution system. These schemes exploit the intelligence found in power distribution system equipment. Specifically, power distribution system equipment, such as, control devices for reclosers comprise a central processing unit (CPU), memory storage means, a power supply module, a communication module, a digital input/output module, and PT/CT (Potential Transformer/Current Transformer) A/D (Analog-to-Digital) module. A set of instructions indicative of a power restoration scheme may be stored in the memory storage means of the control device for the recloser to perform. Accordingly, the restoration scheme may be active when the reclosers of a power distribution system act in accordance to roles pre-defined by the stored instructions. For example, a power distribution system may comprise a number of reclosers having a predefined configuration (e.g. configuration as defined by the restoration scheme) that allow the flow of current along the power distribution system. When a fault occurs in the power distribution system, the reclosers act in accordance to the pre-defined instructions to isolate the fault and attempt to energize the remaining undisturbed portion of the power distribution system. This, however, entails the use of specific control devices and reclosers performing very specific functions to realize the overall operation of the restoration scheme rendering such restoration schemes as extremely rigid.
A more effective power distribution system would provide a power distribution system protection and restoration scheme that would be independent of power distribution system equipment providing fault protection and system restoration according to predefined set of rules realized through intelligent power distribution system circuit breakers, protective relays, and reclosers.
As will be described below with respect to
In an illustrative implementation, described more fully hereinafter, the methods and apparatus of the present invention may be implemented as part of a power distribution system having reclosers with voltage sensing transformers. Although the depicted embodiment provides systems and methods employing exemplary power distribution components having a particular configuration, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the inventive concepts described herein extend to various types of power distribution components having varying configurations.
Restoration Schemes Implementation:
Generally sectionalizing reclosers 130 and 150 have the characteristics of being placed close to the power station (e.g. first source 110 and second source 120). In operation, sectionalizing reclosers 130 and 150 trip and lock out (e.g. open) after a programmed time upon the loss of voltage from a sensing transformer (not shown) in the fault zone. Comparatively, a tie-point recloser is placed between cooperating circuits (e.g. between two power sources) and operates in an open state (e.g. not allowing current to flow through). In operation, the tie-point recloser closes (e.g. allowing current to flow through) after a programmed time.
In the three-recloser scheme illustrated in
In the five-recloser restoration scheme described in
The above restoration schemes provide viable methods to restore power distribution systems having faults. However, these schemes present several shortcomings, such as, the need of manual resources to clear the fault, to close the sectionalizing recloser, and to open the tie-point recloser to its normal state. As such, two or three line crews, may be required to go out into the field and communicate with each other to repair the faulted line, to close the sectionalizing recloser to parallel the system and, lastly, to open the tie-point recloser.
The present invention aims to ameliorate these shortcomings by providing automated restoration of power distribution systems. Specifically, the restoration scheme of the present invention automatically sets a new open point thereby eliminating the need to open the tie-point recloser. The recloser loop control scheme of the present invention employs a plurality of reclosers installed in series between two substation feeder circuits of a power distribution system. This provides isolation of any faulted section within a given distribution circuit while simultaneously re-establishing service to all customers unaffected by the faulted section within a short period of time. The details of which are described by
System Overview:
The power distribution system shown in
Recloser 315 maintains logic such that it trips to an open state upon the detection (e.g. by the voltage sensing transformers) of a dead voltage at either of its input or output terminals. Reclosers 320, 325, 330, and 335 maintain similar logic such that if there is change in the live or dead voltage at their input or output terminals they trip to an open state. Comparatively, sectionalizing recloser 355 maintains logic that trips recloser 355 to an open state upon the detection (e.g. by the voltage-sensing transformers) of a dead voltage at its input or output terminal.
Accordingly and as shown in
Accordingly, and as shown in
Power Distribution System Equipment:
In operation, RCM 515 will analyze and isolate the faults occurring on the hosting power distribution system. RCM 515 communicates with and receives information from the hosting recloser (e.g. recloser 510) and from upstream devices (e.g. recloser 520) via binary inputs and binary outputs. RCM cooperates with its host recloser to open or close the host recloser depending on various fault and non-fault conditions. Examples of such conditions are as follows: 1) if there is “dead voltage” (i.e voltage below a set threshold level) at both the source 510a of recloser 510 and source 520a of recloser 520, recloser 510 RCM 515 residing in recloser 510 opens recloser 510; 2) if there is “dead voltage” at source 510a and “live voltage” (i.e. voltage above a set threshold level) at source 520a of recloser 520, RCM 515 residing in recloser 510 closes recloser 510; and 3) if there is “dead voltage” at source 520a and “live voltage” at source 510a of recloser 510, RCM 515 residing in recloser 520 closes recloser 520. Using these exemplary rules, RCM 515 cooperates with power distribution equipment to effectively reanimate portions of (or entire) power distribution systems.
Restoration Scheme Processing:
Conclusion:
In sum, the present invention provides a system and methods providing a robust restoration scheme for power distribution systems. It is understood, however, that the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative constructions. There is no intention to limit the invention to the specific constructions described herein. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents falling within the scope and spirit of the invention.
For example, the present invention may be implemented in a variety of power distribution systems. The various techniques described herein may be implemented in a variety of hardware or software, or a combination of both. Preferably, the techniques are implemented in power distribution control devices having digital signal processors, a storage medium readable by the processor (including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements) operating various computer programs. Program code is applied to perform the functions described above and to generate output information. The output information is applied to one or more of the power distribution components. Each program is preferably implemented in assembly or machine language. However, the programs can be implemented in a high level procedural or object oriented programming language to communicate with a computer system, if desired. In any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language. Each such computer program is preferably stored on a storage medium or device (e.g., ROM or magnetic disk) that is readable by a general or special purpose programmable computer for configuring and operating the computer when the storage medium or device is read by the computer to perform the procedures described above. The system may also be considered to be implemented as a computer-readable storage medium, configured with a computer program, where the storage medium so configured causes a computer to operate in a specific and predefined manner.
Although exemplary embodiments of the invention have been described in detail above, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many additional modifications are possible in the exemplary embodiments without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of the invention. Accordingly, these and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined in the following claims.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20020080539 A1 | Jun 2002 | US |