Human Factors Survey and Analysis of Electric Power Control Centers

Abstract

An electric power system generally includes a number of generating plants, substations, and high voltage transmission lines, as well as thousands of circuit breakers, switches, transformers, and other components, all spread over hundreds or thousands of square miles. Two to five system operators work at dispatch centers and use modern, computerized systems for system monitoring, information display, and operation of the power system. This paper describes the functions performed at typical dispatch centers, as well as characteristic physical facilities, group displays, operator consoles, power system controls and displays, and CRT display formats and information coding techniques. Human factors problem areas which exist within electric power system control centers are pointed out.