Development of an object-oriented service restoration expert system with load variations

Distribution restoration process is done by switching actions of sectionalizing and tie switches on the feeders. The state of these switches can be determined by applying logical reasoning. Thus, knowledge-based systems are ideal tools to accomplish the task. In this paper, an expert system is developed by utilizing its fast reasoning mechanism and object-oriented features. The feeder component and configuration data are organized in a hierarchy way using the object-oriented programming paradigm. On the other hand, facts are used for representing the information during inference process. Service restoration procedure proposed in this paper takes load variation into consideration. The simulation results indicate that more solutions can be obtained for service restoration problems when load variation is considered. Another unique property of the proposed system is that it is capable of proposing multiple restoration plans. Multiple plans are important for the system operators since the best solution proposed by the system may not be workable in reality. By proposing multiple plans, the system operator can choose a plan which is more suitable to the real situation for service restoration problems.