Perspectives on Power System Reconfiguration for Shipboard Applications

In this paper, we survey different formulations of the reconfiguration problem and the different techniques used for its solution. We also compare the problem of reconfiguration of shipboard power systems to that of large scale systems. The reconfiguration of closely coupled power systems offers some unique challenges and limits the applicability of previously developed analysis. Although the number of switches is small in comparison to terrestrial power systems, the demands on the shipboard power system can be more severe. Further, because of space limitations the safety through redundancy of systems is not always feasible. Stability and service restorative capabilities are key objectives in closely coupled networks. After reviewing research on shipboard power systems, we motivate the system theoretical approach to solve reconfiguration problem in this context.