ECE 5984: Power Distribution System Analysis

Lecture 1: Introduction to Power Distribution Systems

Reference: Textbook, Chapter 1
Instructor: V. Kekatos

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The big picture

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Distribution substations and feeders

•  Switching

•  Protection

•  Voltage transformation

•  Voltage regulation

•  Metering
§  analog current recordings
§  meters on substation and/or feeder
§  digital meters record min/max/avg of
current, voltage, power, power factor
over 15 min, 30 min, or 1 hr
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 Switching and protective devices

•  Switching devices
§  manual switches
§  remote controlled switches

•  Protective devices
§  circuit breakers
§  fuses
§  overcurrent relays
§  reclosers
§  sectionalizers

Photo courtesy of K. Schneider (PNNL)

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 Switches

•  Simple devices; no control/communication

•  Located at substation or feeder

•  Isolate equipment for maintenance at

substation, or reconfigure feeders

•  Cannot interrupt fault currents and lack

synchronization equipment

•  Manual control, or remote control via

SCADA signals Photo courtesy of K. Schneider (PNNL)

•  Control equipment located at bottom of supporting structure or utility pole

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 Circuit breakers

•  Similar to switches, but can break fault currents

•  Used to protect rather than disconnect

•  Located at substation due to size (rating)

•  They can be operated remotely

•  Classified based on material used to quench arc

(air, oil, vacuum, SF6)

Photo courtesy of K. Schneider (PNNL)

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Detailed structure

•  sub-transmission is optional
e.g., 115:4 kV [IEEE 123-bus]

138:69 kV

69:14 kV
Distribution substation
•  Typical distribution feeders 15-200 MVA @ 2-46 kV
4 MVA @ 4 kV
12 MVA @ 12.47 kV
20 MVA @ 23 kV
30 MVA @ 34 kV

14:480/208 kV
•  Inline transformers 14:4 kV
[Glover, Sarma, Overbye]
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Breaker-and-a-half scheme

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Voltage transformers

On-Load Tap-Changing (OLTC) transformer

§  a.k.a. Tap Changing Under-Load Transf. (TCUL)
§  located at the substation; can serve multiple feeders
§  maintains constant low-voltage side under varying
distribution load or transmission-side conditions
§  can be substituted with transformer & regulator

In-line transformer and regulators

Distribution transformers

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Primary and secondary distribution
Distribution transformers (pole/pad-mounted) form the boundaries

Classes change: IEEE 1547 defines MV as 1-35 kV …

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Distribution lines

three-phase four-wire multi-grounded Y

three-phase Delta (under replacement)

[Blume]
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240/120 V single-phase distribution transformers

[Blume]

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208/120 V three-phase distribution transformers

[Blume]

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480/277 V three-phase distribution transformers

[Blume]

Small single-phase transformers provide 120 V from 480 V for lighting/office

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Voltage regulation
•  Voltage magnitude should lie within ±5% of nominal (114-126 for 120 V)

•  Voltage regulators: induction devices in shunt or series with regulated circuit for the
control of its voltage
•  Capacitors: power factor correction (include switching and protective elements)

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Radial feeders
primary ‘main’ feeder:
2-30 MVA @ 2-46 kV
secondaries:
5-500 kVA @ 120-480 V

3, V, single-phase laterals

in-line transformers

distribution transformers
240/120 V 1-phase (split-phase)
208/120 V 3-phase
480/277/120 V 3-phase
400/230 V 3-phase (Europe)

regulators and cap banks

protection devices

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 Distribution feeder map

•  Transformers (kVA rating, connection)

•  Shunt capacitors (kVAR rating, phase)
•  Voltage regulators (phase, ratios, compensator
settings)
•  Lines (OH/UG, distance, conductor, phase)
•  Switches (NO/NC)
•  Geographical distances
•  Conductors (radius, diameter, resistance)

See e.g., the actual IEEE 123-bus benchmark…

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 Fuses

•  Low-cost devices used to interrupt fault currents

•  Once fuse interrupts overcurrent, it has to be

manually replaced by a line crew

•  Fuse coordination: the practice of selecting fuse sizes

so that fuse closest to the fault blows first

•  Fuse coordination requires knowledge of system

load and gets complicated with distributed resources

Photo courtesy of K. Schneider

•  Operate on an inverse time curve:

the higher the fault current, the quicker the fuse will blow

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 Example: fuse protection

•  Permanent line to ground fault on line 705-712

•  Fuse blows due to overcurrent, thus isolating single-

phase lateral

•  Customers at node 712 and 742 call in to report power

outage

•  Utility dispatches a line crew to investigate

•  Line crew locates fault and repairs condition

•  Line crew replaces blown fuse with a new one

•  Single-phase lateral us back to service Photo courtesy of K. Schneider

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 Protection relays

•  Use local measurements to generate control signals

•  Fuses measure only current; relays measure

voltage and current so can also estimate
- real and reactive power
- sequence components
- phasor measurements

•  They can be accessed remotely for maintenance

and updates

Photo courtesy of K. Schneider

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 Reclosers
•  Designed to minimize number of
customers affected by momentary fault

•  Not needed in transmission or underground

distribution systems

Operation
1.  Fault occurs
2.  Recloser interrupts fault current and remains
open for a time period (1-2 sec) to allow
Photo courtesy of K. Schneider
momentary faults to clear
3.  Recloser closes back into fault and sees if fault
has cleared
4.  If fault has cleared, recloser stays closed;
otherwise, recloser reopens
5.  Number of tries to reconnect is user-configurable
(usually 3)
6.  After final ‘shot’, recloser locks open
7.  Utility crew must locally reset the unit
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 Sectionalizers

•  Operate on local measurements and with

proper coordination of upstream reclosers

•  Combination of reclosers and sectionalizers

is ideal for system with permanent and Recloser

temporary faults

Operation
1.  Sectionalizer detects overcurrent but cannot

Sectionalizer #1

Sectionalizer #2

Sectionalizer #3
interrupt fault
2.  It starts counting recloser shots
3.  During the second/third recloser shots, the
sectionalizer opens under no load
Photo courtesy of K. Schneider

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 Example: sectionalizer protection
•  Permanent line to ground fault on line 710-735

•  Overcurrent causes recloser 730-709 to open

•  Sect. 708-733 detects overcurrent and prepares to open

•  Sect.738-711 does not detect overcurrent

•  Recloser waits and closes back in; repeats 2-3 times

•  Sect. 708-733 opens after 2nd or 3rd shot during no load

•  Recloser closes back in, sees no fault, and remains closed

•  Customers downstream of 708 report power outage and

utility dispatches line crew

•  Line crew locates fault; repairs condition; and recloses sect.

Photo courtesy of K. Schneider

•  Lateral back to service

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