optimising feeder cables, location of dist. pillars & supply cables to these dist. pillars

[emmjea001]

Dear members,

For the case of supplying power to residential consumers at LV, the model is normally a group of houses connected via relatively small cables (16mm) to a centrally located distribution pillar, this distribution pillar is in turn fed via a much larger supply cable, either part of a ring of such distribution pillars fed from a MV/LV mini-substation, or directly via radial from a MV/LV mini-substation.

The variables in selecting the optimal location of the distribution pillars to minimize both main feeder cable size and final distribution cables are massive - and I am sure there are many optimization programs that have been written to assist.

I would appreciate comments and pointers to some easy to use and relatively simple packages - and not too costly.

The main use is really in urban reticulation of anywhere between 15 to 100 houses, which need a cable distribution system designed with result being minimum cost of cable.

Many thanks indeed

 

[BlackJackJacques]

Solver as packaged with MS Excel is free if you already have MS Excel. You will have to program it from scratch and develop your constraints, assumptions, etc. There is a limit of 200 decision variables, but I understand you can purchase 3rd party extensions. I took OR courses at the university level some years ago and Solver as packaged with MS Excel is what we used. It is pretty powerful and reliable. I used it to optimize certain logistics problems, power generation/distr problems similar to what you seemed to have identified. There is a bit of a learning curve, but once you nail it, it becomes fun to use.

BEst

JR

 

[emmjea001]

Thanks BlackJack - it is useful - was hoping to avoid programming it myself as assumed this must be a common problem in electrical reticulation - but as your is only response I guess not!

 

[BlackJackJacques]

There seems to be an abundance of revenue-related programs, but your specific application may be somewhat esoteric and thus nothing available commercially. The Solver is relatively easy to program provided you have some familiarity with math optimization methods. Solver will step you through and ask you if you want to solve Min, Max or for a specific target number. So its configuration does not require knowledge of syntex or special commands -- it is all numbers mapped to your spread sheet. If you are good with VBA, you could integrate drop down list boxes, etc. You can even use it to access other 3rd party software, such as MATLAB for sub-processing. What I love about it is that it forces you to understand the nature of the relationships you are addressing. Last time I used it was to optimize time and fuel costs for a fleet oiler vessel, processing things like shaft-attached generator, wind, sea-state, displacement, etc. It is a powerful little add-on.