Tutorial

Distribution Load Flow

CYME 7.0 Power Engineering Software
This tutorial provides a guideline on how to solve a power flow on a network file provided with this tutorial.

 Getting Started

1. Launch the program.

2. Open the file by clicking on the icon of the

Main toolbar and select the self contained study file
provided with the tutorial DistribLoadFlow.sxst.

 Network Description

This is a network as modeled in the CYME software.

© CYME International, January 2013

  Power Flow Analysis

The objective of a Load Flow program is to analyze the steady-state performance of the distribution power
system under various operating conditions. It is the basic analysis tool for the planning, design and operation
of any electrical power system which could be distribution, industrial or transmission.

1. Select Load Flow Analysis, from the list of

available analyses. (See illustration.) You
can also select it from Analysis > Load
Flow.

2. Click on the Run Simulation icon in

the Simulation toolbar to open the Load
Flow Analysis dialog box.

3. The Load Flow Analysis

dialog box comprises of
five tabs that will allow you
to set the:
a. Load Flow analysis
Parameters including
any Load or Generation
Scaling Factors.
b. The Networks that the
Load Flow is to be
performed on.
c. The Controls to include
or exclude particular
equipment to the
simulation.
d. The Loading / Voltage
Limits of equipment and
bus voltage violations.
e. The Output options to
include reports, tags,
color coding and tool
tips.

CYME 7.0 Tutorial – Distribution Load Flow Page 2

  Load Flow Study Parameters

1. Parameters
a. Calculation method. The calculation method is a
voltage drop method that can be used on balanced
and unbalanced networks.
For this tutorial, it will be set to the Voltage Drop –
Unbalanced.
b. Convergence Parameters.
For this tutorial, they are set to 0.01 %(V) tolerances
and the maximum number of Iterations to 40.

c. Uncheck Remove all constraints. With this option unchecked, the power flow will be solved taking
into account all generator reactive power constraint limits and the tap range of all voltage regulating
transformers (LTC).
d. Select the option “As defined” for all the Load and
Generation Scaling Factors. In this case, no scaling
factors will be applied on the loads, motors and
generators. In other words all active and reactive
power as entered in the network setting will be used
in the power flow analysis. The scaling factors can
also be applied as Global, By Zone or “By Equipment
(Load, Motor or Generator) Type”.
e. Voltage and Frequency
Sensitivity Load Model is
used to account for the
variation of the load with the
bus or node voltage.
f. CYME uses the ZIP model,
equivalent to using nP, nQ to
model loads.
g. For the purpose of this tutorial,
the load model selection will
be set to By Load Type and
the profile to Default.

h. By clicking on , the load

types are displayed in details.
i. Voltage threshold Vz is the
voltage below which all loads
are converted to constant
impedance. Once the voltage
recovers they are switched
back to their original state.
Vz is set to 80% for all load
types in this case.
nP V  nQ
 V 
j. Click on OK. P = Po ×   Q = Qo ×  
 Vbase   Vbase 

Note: The Frequency Sensitivity component Pfreq and Qfreq of the load will only be considered during
transient stability studies.

CYME 7.0 Tutorial – Distribution Load Flow Page 3

 2. Networks
Select the TUTORIAL network.
3. Controls
Include all Capacitors, Generators, and Motors
and select the Normal operation of the
transformer tap controls.
4. Loading / Voltage Limits
a. Select the Limit Category that is to be
applied on this particular study which in our
Tutorial will be set to Planning operating
conditions.

b. The corresponding column for the %

Loading Limits data entry will be activated
to allow entry of the individual loading limits
for any network component.
c. Select the Summer data entry for the
equipment rating criteria. This option will use
the Summer data of each equipment.

d. Set the Voltage Limits for the planning

operating conditions as 105 % for the High
Voltage limit and 95 % for the Low Voltage
limit.

5. Output
a. Check the Display the
Iterations Report option to
display the iterations.
b. Check the reports check
boxes to display various
load flow results reports
after the simulation
c. Check the desired load flow
reports. In this case, the
following reports are
selected:
− Load Flow – Abnormal
Voltage Areas
− Load Flow – Detailed
− Load Flow – Feeder
loading
− Load Flow –
Overloaded conductors
− Load Flow – Summary
Report

6. Click on the
button to solve the load flow.

CYME 7.0 Tutorial – Distribution Load Flow Page 4

  Simulation Results

1. Display the load flow result tags by selecting Power Flow Results from the Tag Layer drop-down menu.
Click on the icon to display the dialog box where you will be able to specify, for each type of
equipment, the data that will appear in the tags; such as the Bus Voltage (p.u.), angle in deg., cable
current flows, MW and MVAR’s, etc.
2. To view detailed results on a section or equipment, open the Load Flow Box by selecting View > Result
Box > Load Flow Box.

3. Power Flow Iteration Report.

CYME 7.0 Tutorial – Distribution Load Flow Page 5

  Abnormal Conditions

1. Click on the button to display any abnormal

conditions such as bus voltage violations or
overload conditions.

2. As an example the following abnormal conditions

from section T3 can be noted:
The cable supplying power to the motor PM2 is
overloaded since it is color coded in yellow. The
current through the cable is 180.8A on each phase,
which exceeds the 85 % loading limit of the
standard rating of the cable.

CYME 7.0 Tutorial – Distribution Load Flow Page 6

  Result Layer Customization

1. Go to the Customize > One-Line Diagram > Tags and Text menu option.
2. The Tags and Text customization dialog box will be displayed on screen.

3. Click on the Add button dialog to

display the Layer Properties
dialog box.
4. Enter the Layer Name and
Category which in our tutorial are
Detailed Load Flow Results and
Load Flow respectively.

5. Click on the to
save the description of the layer.

6. A new layer for the Power Flow

results is now created in order to
customize the OLD display with
any simulation results that you
may require by using the
keywords provided with the
program.
7. You can select a combination of
keywords and characters such as
the name or unit. The characters
will also be displayed in the
results tag.
8. An example would be the
balanced current $IBal$ in amps
(A). This would be entered as
$IBal$ A.
9. It is important to always click on
the save button after completing
your customization so as they will
be saved permanently in your
configuration files.

CYME 7.0 Tutorial – Distribution Load Flow Page 7

  Result Box Customization

1. Click on the Customize this result box button .

2. An expanded version with all the keywords will be displayed.
3. If necessary, increase the number of rows or columns.
4. To add a keyword, select the field where it is to be added and click
on select key.
5. Add the desired keywords.
6. Typical Keywords are listed below for your reference.
7. It is also possible to customize the result box to display different
keywords per device. To do so, click on the Manager button.

Component Keywords and Characters Description

$BusId$ Bus Id
Bus $Vpu$ Balanced Voltage in p.u.
($PH-Angle$) ( Bus Voltage Angle in Degrees )
Cable $IBal$ A Line Current in Amps
$MWTOT$ MW Total Through Active Power in MW
Motor or Static Load
$MVARTOT$ MVAR Total Through Reactive Power in MVAR

CYME 7.0 Tutorial – Distribution Load Flow Page 8

  Reports

1. The reports after

the simulation are
displayed in the
bottom of the
screen in the
Reports area.

The abnormal
conditions are
highlighted in the
reports using the
same colors as on
the OLD.

CYME 7.0 Tutorial – Distribution Load Flow Page 9