System and method for control of power distribution networks

• US 8,730,837 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2010
• Issued: 05/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Infrastructure Technology, LLC (General Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Popescu, Bogdan Cristian, du Toit, Willem Hendrik
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hanh N
• Application Number:
  US12/819,515
• Publication Number:
  US 20110313586A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,429 Days
• Field of Search: 700/292, 700/286, 700/295, 709220-222, 709/223, 709/224, 709/203, 709/208, 709/209, 370/216, 370/218, 370/219, 370/241, 370/242, 370/244, 370/245, 370/247, 370/251, 370/254, 370/255, 370/258, 370/329, 370/338, 370/384, 370/385, 370/386, 370/390, 702/60, 702/58, 702/59, 702/62, 702/64, 702182-183, 702/185, 703/18, 361/62, 361/64, 361/66, 361/115
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00002 characterised by monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00016 using a wired telecommunication network or a data transmission bus
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00034 the elements or equipment being or involving an electric power substation
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/0073 for providing alternative feeding paths between load and source when the main path fails, e.g. transformers, busbars
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/30 State monitoring, e.g. fault, temperature monitoring, insulator monitoring, corona discharge
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/52 Outage or fault management, e.g. fault detection or location
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/124 using wired telecommunication networks or data transmission busses

Abstract

A system for controlling a multi-feed power distribution network includes: a first controller configured to control operation of a first network sector, the first controller configured to, in response to a topology change in the first network sector causing a change in a location from which power is supplied to at least one affected network segment, transmit a message identifying the at least one affected network segment from the first controller to the network without prior knowledge of any other controllers; and at least one second controller configured to control operation of the at least one second network sector, the second controller configured to receive the message, exchange configuration information regarding the at least one affected segment with the first controller, and automatically update the second configuration data of the second controller based on the configuration information received from the first controller to reflect the topology change.

Claims

1. A system for controlling a multi-feed power distribution network, the network including a first network sector and at least one second network sector, the system comprising:

a first controller configured to control operation of the first network sector of the multi-feed power distribution network, the first network sector including a first plurality of devices connected to a first power source, and the first controller including first configuration data representing a first network sector topology, the first controller configured to, in response to a topology change in the first network sector causing a change in a location from which power is supplied to at least one affected network segment, transmit a message identifying the at least one affected network segment from the first controller to the network without prior knowledge of any other controllers;

at least one second controller configured to control operation of the at least one second network sector of the multi-feed power distribution network, the at least one second network sector including a second plurality of devices connected to a second power source, and the at least one second controller including second configuration data representing a second network sector topology, the second controller configured to receive the message without prior knowledge of any other controllers, exchange configuration information regarding the at least one affected segment with the first controller, and automatically update the second configuration data of the second controller based on the configuration information received from the first controller to reflect the topology change.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the first controller and the at least one second controller are controller instances selected from at least one of a physical controller and a logical controller.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one second controller is a plurality of second controllers.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the topology change is selected from at least one of:

a change in a connection from at least one device between the first power source and the second power source, a fault in the network, an addition of at least one device to the network, and a subtraction of at least one device from the network.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the first controller and the at least one second controller are configured to automatically discover and automatically configure themselves based on one or more broadcast messages sent from the first controller to the plurality of second controllers.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein exchanging configuration information includes establishing an ad-hoc automated and self discovered unicast session between the first controller and the at least one second controller and sending configuration data related to the affected segments from the first controller to the at least one second controller.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein exchanging configuration information includes establishing an ad-hoc automated and self discovered unicast session between the first controller and the at least one second controller and sending configuration data related to the affected segments from the first controller to the at least one second controller.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the first controller and the at least one second controller are configured to revert the first and second configuration data to a base configuration in response to a restoration of the first and second network sector topologies to base topologies.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the first configuration data includes a first data array for the first network topology, the first data array including a first plurality of array elements, each of the first plurality of array elements representing properties of one of the first plurality of devices, and configuration information includes at least one data array element describing the affected network segment.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the second configuration data includes a second data array for the second network sector, the second data array including a second plurality of array elements, each of the second plurality of array elements representing properties of one of the second plurality of devices, and updating a configuration of the at least one second controller includes incorporating the at least one data array element in the second data array.

11. A method of controlling a multi-feed power distribution network including a plurality of devices, the network including a first network sector that includes a first plurality of devices connected to a first power source and at least one second network sector that includes a second plurality of devices connected to a second power source, the method comprising:

in response to a topology change in the first network sector controlled by a first controller including first configuration data representing the first network sector topology, the topology change causing a change in a location from which power is supplied to at least one affected network segment, transmitting a message identifying the at least one affected network segment from the first controller to the network without prior knowledge of any other controllers;

receiving the message by at least one other controller configured to control the at least one second network sector, without prior knowledge of any other controllers, the at least one other controller including second configuration data representing the second network sector topology;

exchanging configuration information regarding the at least one affected segment between the first controller and the at least one other controller; and

automatically updating the second configuration data of the at least one other controller based on the configuration information received from the first controller to reflect the topology change.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the affected segment includes at least one device selected from at least one of:

an active node, a passive node, a controllable switch, a recloser, a circuit breaker, a network split, and a sensor.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the topology change is selected from at least one of:

a change in a connection from at least one device between the first power source and the second power source, a fault in the network, an addition of at least one device to the network, and a subtraction of at least one device from the network.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one other controller includes a plurality of other controllers, and the message is a broadcast message sent from the first controller to each of the plurality of controllers.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein exchanging configuration information includes determining by the at least one other controller whether the at least one affected segment is included in the second network sector as a result of the topology change, and in response to the at least one affected segment being included in the second network sector, establishing an ad-hoc automated and self discovered unicast session between the first controller and the at least one other controller and sending configuration data related to the affected segments from the first controller to the at least one other controller.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein exchanging configuration information includes determining by the at least one other controller whether the at least one affected segment is included in the second network sector as a result of the topology change, and in response to the at least one affected segment being included in the second network sector, establishing an ad-hoc automated and self discovered unicast session between the first controller and the at least one other controller and sending configuration data related to the affected segments from the first controller to the at least one other controller.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the first controller and the at least one other controller is configured to revert the first and second configuration data to a base configuration in response to a restoration of the first and second network sector topologies to base topologies.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the first configuration data includes a first data array for the first network sector, the first data array including a first plurality of array elements, each of the first plurality of array elements representing properties of one of the first plurality of devices, and the configuration information includes at least one data array element describing the at least one affected network segment.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the second configuration data includes at least one second data array for the second network sector, and updating a configuration of the other controller includes incorporating the at least one data array element in the at least one second data array.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

saving, by the first controller, a copy of the first data array reflecting a first base topology of the first network sector prior to the topology change; and

saving, by the at least one other controller, a copy of the second data array reflecting a second base topology of the at least one second network sector prior to the topology change.