Graphical representation of components, connectivities and magnitudes in an electrical network

Abstract

This paper summarises the research made into an innovative graphical representation of an electrical network for an EMS that allows the dispatcher or operator to be aware of the whole network status at a glance. In order to do so, usage of numerical information is avoided, and graphical representations of the network components and magnitudes are studied. Representation of lines, transformers, generators, network connectivity and outaged components is investigated. Magnitude displaying is analysed: active, reactive and complex power, voltage values along with ratings and limits. Colour coding is used to identify magnitudes, connectivities and alarm situations. Power flow direction displaying is studied. As active and reactive power values spread from zero to thousands of megawatts, linear object scaling related with megawatt values makes this approach useless. Innovative use of nonlinear functions to represent values of magnitudes is deeply studied. Finally, it probes the need to use overall representation of the network.