Modeling electrical networks with Object Oriented data structures for smart control

The electrical networks are becoming more complex with the introduction of distributed generators; power electronics based control devices and various types of loads. The electrical networks are no longer passive meshed systems, as they were a couple decades ago. Rather the generation, transmission and consumption co-exist almost at all levels of the electrical networks. With the increasing number of control parameters the management, protection and control of these electrical networks become a real challenge for power engineers. Furthermore, several loads and/or distributed generators may connect/disconnect from/to the network at any time. Therefore, the shape of the network is not fixed but variable. Power flow, power quality calculations as well as protection parameters such as relay settings, fault current settings etc. require that the exact structure of an electrical network should be monitored. This can be achieved by making use of communication lines in a central management system. In this paper, the electrical nodes such as relays, generators and loads are represented with Object Oriented (OO) data structures to model microgrids with graph theory. Dijkstra´s algorithm is implemented to monitor the changes in the network and recognize new deployments. In this manner, the exact structure of the network can be monitored without central management and necessary adjustments can be made on the fly. The simulation of the proposed model shows the viability of such model and its effectiveness.