An expert system to assist distribution dispatchers in the location of system outages

The purpose of this work is to demonstrate the feasibility of using the expert system concept in the normal operation process of a distribution system to help optimize current service restoration procedures. An expert system prototype was developed for assisting distribution system dispatchers in their responsibility of restoring electric service to affected customers, whenever an outage occurs. It is intended to monitor the system and advise the operator of the location of the protective device most likely to be out of service. The benefits of using a system like this will be improved dispatching of repair crews and potential improved economics for the electric utilities. After intensive validation and testing of the prototype using actual feeder files, results were consistent, and within acceptable computational time.<>