Practical network study tools

Safety and security of supply have assumed an increasingly greater importance for engineers concerned with either the design of new electrical distribution systems or the operation and maintenance of existing systems. A number of factors have been responsible for this trend, two of the most significant being: an awareness of the cost implications of supply interruptions and damage resulting from equipment failure, and the need to comply with the Electricity At Work Regulations and other safety requirements. When assessing safety and security of supply, some key areas to be addressed are: is equipment in all parts of your distribution network adequately rated to withstand or interrupt the prospective levels of short-circuit current? Will protective devices operate as expected if faults occur on the network? Are protective device settings correctly graded to avoid unnecessary interruptions to essential supplies when faults occur? More to the point, can these issues be effectively and reliably assessed without exceeding increasingly tight time and cost restraints? The purpose of this paper is to outline how the use of software can help busy engineers drastically reduce the time taken to complete the necessary network studies when compared to manual methods