Cost and loadability based design technique for LV distribution networks

Design of LV networks has two aspects: mechanical and electrical. The objective of the mechanical design is to determine the tension of wires, or equally their sags, in such a way that in various climates the designed network operates satisfactorily. On the other hand, the target of the electrical design is to fulfill the electric constrains, i.e. current, voltage, and losses constrains. In the case of current, there are two constrains for steady state and faulted conditions. This paper presents a technique for selecting the cross section of conductors in electrical design stage for LV distribution networks with respect to the mentioned constrains, based on both cost and loadability aspects.