A direct approach for distribution system load flow solutions

Abstract

A direct approach for unbalanced three-phase distribution load flow solutions is proposed in this paper. The special topological characteristics of distribution networks have been fully utilized to make the direct solution possible. Two developed matrices-the bus-injection to branch-current matrix and the branch-current to bus-voltage matrix-and a simple matrix multiplication are used to obtain load flow solutions. Due to the distinctive solution techniques of the proposed method, the time-consuming LU decomposition and forward/backward substitution of the Jacobian matrix or Y admittance matrix required in the traditional load flow methods are no longer necessary. Therefore, the proposed method is robust and time-efficient. Test results demonstrate the validity of the proposed method. The proposed method shows great potential to be used in distribution automation applications.