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Simple Power Flow Example - Open Electrical
Simple Power Flow Example - Open Electrical
Consider the simple model shown in Figure 1, where a large stiff network supplies a constant power load S
through an impedance Zs :
Figure 1. Simple power flow model (note that all quantities are in per-unit)
Suppose the load power S is known and we want to calculate the load bus voltage Vr . Unfortunately, this cannot
be computed in a straightforward manner because the load is of constant power and thus the load current and
impedance are voltage dependent, i.e. the load draws more current as voltage decreases. As a result, the load bus
voltage is non-linearly related to the load itself.
1 Vr 0
= Vr 0( )
Zs
Suppose that we represent both the load power S and impedance Zs in polar coordinates, i.e.
S = S
Zs = Z
2
S Z ( + ) + Vr = Vr ()
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6/7/2017 Simple Power Flow Example - Open Electrical
S Z sin( + ) = Vr sin()
Simplifying and re-arranging the equation above, we can get the following homogenous equation:
4 2 2
Vr + [2S Z cos( + ) 1] Vr + (S Z ) = 0
This equation can be solved for the load bus voltage Vr using the quadratic formula (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Quadratic_equation#Quadratic_factorization):
2
b b 4c
Vr = ... Equ. (1)
2
Where b = 2S Z cos( + ) 1
2
and c = (S Z )
Worked Example
Suppose that the source bus has a nominal voltage of 33kV and a short circuit level of 800MVA at X/R ratio of 10.
What is the voltage at the load bus if it is supplying a constant 50MW load at 0.8pf (lagging)?
||Zs || 1.361
||Zs,pu || = = = 0.281pu
Zbase 4.84
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The 50MW load converted to per unit is (by convention, a load with lagging power factor has a negative reactive
power):
Plugging the parameters S = 0.625 ,Z = 0.281 , = 0.6435 and = 1.471 into Equation (1), we
get the load bus voltage:
Vr = 0.8480pu
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