OPTIMAL SWITCH PLACEMENT IN RADIAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS

Abstract

Distribution system reliability has acquired importance in these days, because the distribution system performance can directly affect the customers. Reliability evaluation of distribution system assesses the adequacy of the load points in regard to provide a suitable supply to the consumers. The basic indices normally used are load point failure rate, outage duration and annual unavailability. The basic indices are important with respect to a particular load point, but they do not give an overall appreciation of the area or system performance. Additional indices can be calculated using these three basic indices and the number of customers load connected at each load point in the system. Reliability indices of a distribution system are functions of component failures, repairs and restoration times, which are random by nature. The distribution system reliability mainly deals with the interruption frequency and interruption duration of the customers. If these values are large, the reliability of the system is poor. Nowadays automation in distribution systems is growing largely. Automated and remote controlled switches play prominent rules in automated distribution systems. Determination of the Optimum number and location of switches in distribution system automation is an important issue from the reliability and economical points of view. Feeder switch automation can increase the system reliability by rapid restoration of supply, and can provide substantial cost savings to companies in which switching events are normally performed manually In this project work, the reliability of the distribution network is evaluated for a radial Distribution system, considering alternate supply at each . end nodes. As a part of this work, Reliability indices of the 22 node Radial distribution system were calculated. In this work, SAIFI, SAIDI, CAIDI, ENS and TAC are mainly considered, as they are most commonly used reliability indices. For evaluating the reliability of the distribution system, linked list program have been developed and run as a part of the main program. Based on the Reliability indices optimal location for switch the placement was found out.