Systems and Methods for Managing a Power Distribution System

• US 20130197702A1
• Filed: 02/01/2012
• Published: 08/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Arvind, Kamal Kumar, Meadows, Vernon, Losee, Marc Karl
• Granted Patent: US 9,502,898 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/286
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/001 Methods to deal with contingencies, e.g. abnormalities, faults or failures
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/007 Arrangements for selectively connecting the load or loads to one or several among a plurality of power lines or power sources for providing uninterruptable power supply H02J9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/0073 for providing alternative feeding paths between load and source when the main path fails, e.g. transformers, busbars

Abstract

A system and method of determining priorities for restoration of power in a power distribution system includes collecting customer prioritization data for a set of customers. An inconvenience factor is determined from the customer prioritization data for each customer. A zone restoration factor is then determined from the inconvenience factor for each customer. The inconvenience factor takes into account the estimated outage time, the customer'"'"'s back-up time, the willingness of the customer to use back-up devices, and customer'"'"'s priority for the estimated outage time.

Claims

1. A method of determining priorities for restoration of power in a power distribution system comprising:

collecting customer prioritization data for a set of customers;

determining an inconvenience factor from the customer prioritization data on each customer in the set of customers; and

determining a zone restoration factor from the inconvenience factor for each customer.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising maintaining a database comprising data relating to back-up devices available to customers, and customers willingness to use the back-up devices.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the customer prioritization data comprises one or more data selected from the group including customer priority data, customer load data, customer back-up device data, customer available back-up time, data related to willingness of customer to use their back-up device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the method element of determining a zone restoration factor comprises determining a feeder restoration factor from the inconvenience factor for each customer in the feeder.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising developing a list of priorities for restoring power to customers based on the inconvenience factor.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the inconvenience factor comprises:

a factor calculated from an estimated outage time, a customer'"'"'s back-up time, a factor related to willingness of customer to use back-up devices, and a customer'"'"'s priority for the estimated outage time.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the inconvenience factor comprises a customer effective interruption time divided by a customer priority for estimated outage time.

8. A system for determining priorities for restoration of power in a power distribution system comprising:

a computer;

a subsystem that collects customer prioritization data for a set of customers;

a subsystem that determines an inconvenience factor from the customer prioritization data on each customer in the set of customers; and

a subsystem that determines a zone restoration factor from the inconvenience factor for each customer.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the customer prioritization data comprises one or more data selected from the group including customer priority data, customer load data, customer back-up device data, customer available back-up time, data related to willingness of customer to use their back-up device.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the subsystem that determines a zone restoration factor comprises a subsystem that determines a feeder restoration factor from the inconvenience factor for each customer in the feeder.

11. The system of claim 8 further comprising at least one subsystem that a list of priorities for restoring power to customers based on the inconvenience factor.

12. The system of claim 8 wherein the inconvenience factor comprises:

a factor calculated from an estimated outage time, customers back-up time, willingness of customer to use back-up devices, and customer'"'"'s priority for the estimated outage time.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the inconvenience factor comprises a customer effective interruption time divided by a customer priority for estimated outage time.

14. A method of restoring power in a power distribution system comprising:

collecting customer prioritization data for a set of customers;

determining an inconvenience factor from the customer prioritization data on each customer in the set of customers;

determining a zone restoration factor from the inconvenience factor for each customer; and

restoring power in a sequence based on the zone restoration factor.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the inconvenience factor comprises:

a factor calculated from an estimated outage time, customers back-up time, willingness of customer to use back-up devices, and customer'"'"'s priority for the estimated outage time.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the inconvenience factor comprises:

a factor calculated from an estimated outage time, customers back-up time, willingness of customer to use back-up devices, and customer'"'"'s priority for the estimated outage time.

17. A system for restoring power in a power distribution system comprising:

a computer

at least one subsystem that collects customer prioritization data for a set of customers;

at least one subsystem that determines an inconvenience factor from the customer prioritization data on each customer in the set of customers;

at least one subsystem that determines a zone restoration factor from the inconvenience factor for each customer; and

at least one subsystem that restores power in a sequence based on the zone restoration factor.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the inconvenience factor comprises:

a factor calculated from an estimated outage time, customers back-up time, willingness of customer to use back-up devices, and customer'"'"'s priority for the estimated outage time.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the inconvenience factor comprises:

a factor calculated from an estimated outage time, customers back-up time, willingness of customer to use back-up devices, and customer'"'"'s priority for the estimated outage time.

20. Non-transitory computer readable media for instructing the determination of priorities for the restoration of power in a power distribution system comprising computer readable instructions to:

collect customer prioritization data for a set of customers;

determine an inconvenience factor from the customer prioritization data on each customer in the set of customers; and

determine a zone restoration factor from the inconvenience factor for each customer.

21. The computer readable media of claim 20 wherein the inconvenience factor comprises:

a factor calculated from an estimated outage time, customers back-up time, willingness of customer to use back-up devices, and customer'"'"'s priority for the estimated outage time.

22. The computer readable media of claim 20 wherein the inconvenience factor comprises:

a factor calculated from an estimated outage time, customers back-up time, willingness of customer to use back-up devices, and customer'"'"'s priority for the estimated outage time.