Browsing by Author "Gardner, Robert Matthew"
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- Conditioning of FNET Data and Triangulation of Generator Trips in the Eastern Interconnected SystemGardner, Robert Matthew (Virginia Tech, 2005-07-29)Using data from the frequency disturbance recorders (FDRs) that comprise the nation-wide frequency monitoring network known as FNET, disturbances in the eastern interconnected system (EI) have been monitored and recorded over the past several years. Analysis of this and other data by a wide variety of research scientists and engineers has rendered the idea that frequency disturbances from generator trips, transmission line trips, load trips, and other events, travel with finite speed as electromechanical waves throughout any power system (in this case the EI). Using FNET data as a tool, it is possible to measure and output the arrival times of these disturbance waves with a time resolution of 100 ms. To observe with certainty the arrival time of the frequency disturbance waves, field data collected by the FDRs must first be conditioned in a robust manner. The current method that uses the moving mean of raw FDR data is analyzed and two computationally efficient robust methods are suggested in this report. These new methods that rely on robust statistics are more resistant to the effect of outliers contained within the raw FDR data. Furthermore, like the moving mean, these methods smooth the raw data without removing the general trend. Having recorded and conditioned the FDR data, three conventional triangulation techniques taken from the field of seismology are proposed and analyzed. This study reconfirms the fact that the EI is not a medium of continuous elasticity though which the frequency perturbations travel but rather a discontinuous patchwork of varying elasticities. Within this report, nine generator trip events are analyzed and the aforementioned triangulation methods are applied. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are discussed. To conclude, axioms of future research are proposed and delineated.
- Examination of Power Systems Solutions Considering High Voltage Direct Current TransmissionRidenour, Daniel Keith (Virginia Tech, 2015-10-05)Since the end of the Current Wars in the 19th Century, alternating current (AC) has dominated the production, transmission, and use of electrical energy. The chief reason for this dominance was (and continues to be) that AC offers a way minimize transmission losses yet transmit large power from generation to load. With the Digital Revolution and the entrance of most of the post-industrialized world into the Information Age, energy usage levels have increased due to the proliferation of electrical and electronic devices in nearly all sectors of life. A stable electrical grid has become synonymous with a stable nation-state and a healthy populace. Large-scale blackouts around the world in the 20th and the early 21st Centuries highlighted the heavy reliance on power systems and because of that, governments and utilities have strived to improve reliability. Simultaneously occurring with the rise in energy usage is the mandate to cut the pollution by generation facilities and to mitigate the impact grid expansion has on environment as a whole. The traditional methods of transmission expansion are beginning to show their limits as utilities move generation facilities farther from load centers, which reduces geographic diversity, and the integration of nondispatchable, renewable energy sources upsets the current operating regime. A challenge faces engineers - how to expand generation, expand transmission capacity, and integrate renewable energy sources while maintaining maximum system efficiency and reliability. A technology that may prove beneficial to the operation of power system is high voltage direct current transmission. The technology brings its own set of advantages and disadvantages, which are in many ways the complement of AC. It is important to update transmission planning processes to account for the new possibilities that HVDC offers. This thesis submits a discussion of high voltage direct current transmission technology itself and an examination of how HVDC can be considered in the planning process.
- Implementation of the Security-Dependability Adaptive Voting SchemeThomas, Michael Kyle (Virginia Tech, 2011-04-29)As the world moves further into the 21st century, the electricity demand worldwide continues to rapidly grow. The power systems that supply this growing demand continue to be pushed closer to their limits. When those limits are exceeded, system blackouts occur that have massive societal and economical impact. Power system protection relays make up a piece of these limits and can be important factors in preventing or causing a system blackout. The purpose of this thesis is to present a working implementation of an adaptive protection scheme known as the adaptive voting scheme, used to alter the security/dependability balance of protection schemes. It is argued that as power system conditions change, the ability of protection relays to adjust the security/dependability balance based on those conditions can allow relays to play a part in preventing power system catastrophes. It is shown that the adaptive voting scheme can be implemented on existing protection technology given Wide Area Measurements (WAMs) provided by Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs). The proposed implementation characteristics allow numerous existing protection practices to be used without changing the basic operation of the practices.
- Location determination of power system disturbances based on frequency responses of the system(United States Patent and Trademark Office, 2009-04-14)A system for detecting and locating a disturbance event within a power grid includes a series of frequency disturbance recorders (FDRs) taking measurements in the power grid at dispersed points of the power grid, an information management system, configured to receive data from the series of FDRs and analyze the received data and a communications network interconnecting the series of FDRs and the information management system. The information management system is configured to examine orders and patterns of receipt of frequency changes at the FDRs in the data caused by the disturbance event and to triangulate a location of the disturbance event based on the orders and patterns of receipt of the frequency changes. Example methods of detection and location of disturbance events are also described.
- Location determination of power system disturbances based on frequency responses of the system(United States Patent and Trademark Office, 2010-07-27)A system for detecting and locating a disturbance event within a power grid includes a series of frequency disturbance recorders (FDRs) taking measurements in the power grid at dispersed points of the power grid, an information management system, configured to receive data from the series of FDRs and analyze the received data and a communications network interconnecting the series of FDRs and the information management system. The information management system is configured to examine orders and patterns of receipt of frequency changes at the FDRs in the data caused by the disturbance event and to triangulate a location of the disturbance event based on the orders and patterns of receipt of the frequency changes. Example methods of detection and location of disturbance events are also described.
- A New Method of Determining the Transmission Line Parameters of an Untransposed Line using Synchrophasor MeasurementsLowe, Bradley Shayne (Virginia Tech, 2015-09-10)Transmission line parameters play a significant role in a variety of power system applications. The accuracy of these parameters is of paramount importance. Traditional methods of determining transmission line parameters must take a large number of factors into consideration. It is difficult and in most cases impractical to include every possible factor when calculating parameter values. A modern approach to the parameter identification problem is an online method by which the parameter values are calculated using synchronized voltage and current measurements from both ends of a transmission line. One of the biggest problems facing the synchronized measurement method is line transposition. Several methods have been proposed that demonstrate how the line parameters of a transposed line may be estimated. However, the present case of today's power systems is such that a majority of transmission lines are untransposed. While transposed line methods have value, they cannot be applied in real-world scenarios. Future efforts of using synchronized measurements to estimate transmission line parameters must focus on the development and refining of untransposed line methods. This thesis reviews the existing methods of estimation transmission line parameters using synchrophasor measurements and proposes a new method of estimating the parameters of an untransposed line. After the proposal of this new method, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to determine its performance when noise is present in the measurements.
- Synchrophasor-Only Dynamic State Estimation & Data ConditioningJones, Kevin David (Virginia Tech, 2013-08-30)A phasor-only estimator carries with it intrinsic improvements over its SCADA analogue with respect to performance and reliability. However, insuring the quality of the data stream which leaves the linear estimator is crucial to establishing it as the front end of an EMS system and network applications which employ synchrophasor data. This can be accomplished using a two-fold solution: the pre-processing of phasor data before it arrives at the linear estimator and the by developing a synchrophasor-only dynamic state estimator as a mechanism for bad data detection and identification. In order to realize these algorithms, this dissertation develops a computationally simple model of the dynamics of the power system which fits neatly into the existing linear state estimation formulation. The algorithms are then tested on field data from PMUs installed on the Dominion Virginia Power EHV network.
- A Wide-Area Perspective on Power System Operation and DynamicsGardner, Robert Matthew (Virginia Tech, 2008-03-28)Classically, wide-area synchronized power system monitoring has been an expensive task requiring significant investment in utility communications infrastructures for the service of relatively few costly sensors. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate the viability of power system monitoring from very low voltage levels (120 V). Challenging the accepted norms in power system monitoring, the document will present the use of inexpensive GPS time synchronized sensors in mass numbers at the distribution level. In the past, such low level monitoring has been overlooked due to a perceived imbalance between the required investment and the usefulness of the resulting deluge of information. However, distribution level monitoring offers several advantages over bulk transmission system monitoring. First, practically everyone with access to electricity also has a measurement port into the electric power system. Second, internet access and GPS availability have become pedestrian commodities providing a communications and synchronization infrastructure for the transmission of low-voltage measurements. Third, these ubiquitous measurement points exist in an interconnected fashion irrespective of utility boundaries. This work offers insight into which parameters are meaningful to monitor at the distribution level and provides applications that add unprecedented value to the data extracted from this level. System models comprising the entire Eastern Interconnection are exploited in conjunction with a bounty of distribution level measurement data for the development of wide-area disturbance detection, classification, analysis, and location routines. The main contributions of this work are fivefold: the introduction of a novel power system disturbance detection algorithm; the development of a power system oscillation damping analysis methodology; the development of several parametric and non-parametric power system disturbance location methods, new methods of power system phenomena visualization, and the proposal and mapping of an online power system event reporting scheme.