University of Moratuwa

Faculty of Engineering
Department of Electrical Engineering

Semester 1 Examination 2017/18

MSc/PG Diploma in Electrical Engineering/Electrical Installation/Industrial
Automation

EE5102 Power Distribution Systems

Time allowed: Two Hours ONLY June 2018

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

This paper contains 4 questions in 6 pages

Answer all the questions.

This is an open book examination.

The examination accounts for 70% of the module assessment. The marks assigned for
each question and sections thereof are indicated in square brackets.

Assume reasonable values for any essential data not given in or with the examination
paper. Clearly state such assumptions made on the scripts.

If you have any doubt to the interpretation of the wording of a question, make your own
decision, but clearly state it on the script.

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Question 1

(a) There are various primary feeder designs which can increase customer service. Five
of these are shown below in Fig. Q 1.
(i) Identify each primary feeder design type. [5 marks]
(ii) Compare type 5 against type 1. [5 marks]

Fig. Q 1

(b) A 10 km long distribution line has an impedance of (0.3 + j0.7) Ω/km. Other
characteristics of this line are:
 Load factor (LF) = 0.6
 Load is uniformly distributed
 Cost of energy is $0.05/kWh
 Peak load = 400 A
 Power factor = 0.8
The Empirical Formula for Loss Factor, LsF is LsF  0.15LF  0.85LF 2 .
(i) Calculate the total voltage drop at peak load using the approximate method.
[5 marks]
(ii) Calculate the cost of energy saved per year by correcting the power factor
from 0.8 to unity? [10 marks]

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Question 2

(a) Explain what is meant by “feeder selective relaying” and illustrate the philosophy of
“feeder selective relaying” by using the characteristics curves of relevant protective
devices. [6 marks]

(b) How would the “feeder selective relaying” affect the power system reliability?
[2 marks]
(c) Write short notes on the following:
(i) Auto-recloser vs Sectionalizer [6 marks]
(ii) Load Break Switch vs Circuit Breaker [6 marks]

(d) Illustrate a typical melting time-current-characteristics of an expulsion fuse and

explain the reasons for having such a characteristics curve (based on the construction
of the fuse). [5 marks]

Question 3

Consider the network given in Fig. Q 3.

Fig. Q 3

The line-to-line source voltage at Node 1 is 12.47 kV and the distribution line impedance is
(0.1 + j0.5) Ω/km. All loads are star connected and balanced. Using the forward-backward sweep
method, compute the node voltages after 2 iterations.

[25 marks]

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Question 4

(a) Consider a simple distribution system having two load-point busbars.

The number of customers and the average load connected to busbars are given in Table Q 4.1.

Table Q 4.1
Load point Number of customers Average load connected (kW)
1 1000 5200
2 900 4600

Assume that three system failures have occurred in a given calendar year of interest.

The effects of each interruption are shown in Table Q 4.2.

Table Q 4.2
Interruption Case Load point affected Duration of interruption (hours)
1 2
1
2 2
2 1 1
3 2 2

If a particular load point is affected, assume that the total number of customers connected to
that load point is disconnected and the average load connected to that load point is curtailed.

Considering the above details, evaluate the following customer and load-orientated reliability
indices,

(i) System average interruption frequency index [2 marks]

(ii) System average interruption duration index [2 marks]
(iii) Average service availability index [2 marks]
(iv) Energy not supplied [2 marks]
(v) Average energy not supplied [2 marks]

(b) Consider the simple radial distribution system shown in Fig. Q 4.

1 t 2
Supply
u v

a b

A B
Fig. Q 4

Reliability parameters and load point details of the system are shown in Table Q 4.3 and
Table Q 4.4 respectively. Assume that there is an isolator at point t and fuses are installed at
points, u and v.

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 Table Q 4.3
Component λ (failures/year) r (hours)
Feeder section 1 0.3 3
Feeder section 2 0.2 2
Distributor a 0.4 3
Distributor b 0.5 2

Table Q 4.4
Load point Number of customers Average load connected (kW)
A 700 3200
B 900 3800

Assume that all failures in feeder sections and distributors are short circuits which will cause
the main breaker at the supply point to operate, if no other primary protection device operates.
Assume that the switching time and the isolation time for all failures is 0.5 hours. If the
failure probability of a fuse is 0.1, evaluate the following reliability parameters of load points,
A and B.

(i) Failure rate [5 marks]

(ii) Outage time [5 marks]
(iii) Unavailability [5 marks]

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