Power system: a reliability assessment using FTA

Abstract

The Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) serves as a powerful tool for system risk analysis and reliability assessment. FTA is a top-down approach to failure analysis, starting with a potential undesirable event and then determining Base event (BE). The undesired state of the system is represented by the Top Event (TE). TE and BE are integrated through electronic logic gates (AND gate, OR gate). The fault tree is a tool to identify and assess the combinations of the undesired events in the control of system operation and its environment that can lead to the undesired state of the system. It is recognized worldwide as an important tool for evaluating safety and reliability in system design, development and operation. In this work, an efficient methodology is utilized to find out reliability assessment of critical and/or complex system. The main features and application of this technique for a power system are discussed. Minimal cut sets are developed by means of Boolean equation method. For main substation all CCF are considered at an average temperature of 35 °C. The objective of this work is to develop a method for power system reliability using the FTA approach. The methodology adopted in this investigation is to generate fault trees for each load point of the power system. This fault trees are related to disruption of energy delivery from generators to the specific load points. Quantitative evaluation of the fault trees represents a standpoint for assessment of reliability of power delivery and enables identification of the most important elements in the power system. The power system reliability is assessed and the main contributors to power system reliability are identified, both qualitatively and quantitatively.