Artificial intelligence in diagnosis and supply restoration for a distribution network

The development of a PC-based integrated system, to illustrate the application of artificial intelligence in the fault diagnosis and supply restoration for an interconnected distribution network is described. The intelligent process utilises the post-fault network status, a list of the tripped breakers, main protection alarm, and the conventional event log. The fault diagnostic system is implemented by three independent mechanisms, namely the generic core rule, specific post-fault network matching, and generic relay inference rules. The intelligent restoration process is implemented by the switching check, the dynamic restoration algorithm and the mechanism for restoration by record matching and learning. By linking to a PC-based distribution simulator it has been demonstrated that the developed mechanisms enable the correct deduction of fault under different network configurations. The appropriate restoration plan can also be generated to restore supply to the entire restorable load for various post-fault networks. This system is currently used for undergraduate teaching and will be ideal for the training of network operation engineers. As the system developed is generic and can be used for a general network, it can be further developed for practical operation in a subtransmission system or an urban distribution system operated in any configuration