A Numerical Approach to the Diagnostics of Electrical Distribution Networks

In order to ascertain the state of electrical distribution networks, a numerical approach is suggested based on a continuous monitoring of network impedances, whose changes are usefully interpreted for diagnostic purposes. Accurate diagnostics procedures allow to schedule effective preventive maintenance with cost reduction and an improvement in the supply continuity level. First the proposed method performs a computation of the impedances and then classifies network elements, which are automatically assigned one of the following states: good, weak or faulted. The necessary diagnostic information is obtained from a designed network stimulation whose responses are previously acquired, pre-processed by a measurement system and then sent to a data processing center. The implemented algorithm performs a real-time network diagnosis by solving a linear equation system properly developed to calculate network parameters. A virtual test network was used to validate the method through proper numerical simulations performed by means of the Simulink Mat-Lab code. The mathematical model applied is thoroughly described and the various conditions to obtain consistent solutions are properly demonstrated.