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Object-oriented load flow for radial and weakly meshed distribution networks

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DOI: 10.1109/TPWRS.2003.818600 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER SYSTEM, VOL. 18, NO. 4, NOVEMBER 2003
Object-Oriented Load Flow for Radial and Weakly
Meshed Distribution Networks
Arturo Losi, Member, IEEE, and Mario Russo, Member, IEEE
Abstract—Object-oriented load flow modeling is presented for
both radial and weakly meshed distribution systems. An OO algo-
rithm based on the Newton–Raphson technique is proposed. In the
object oriented formulation, some approximations to the full Jaco-
bian matrix are introduced. Consequently, a detailed study of the
convergence characteristics of the proposed object oriented algo-
rithm is presented and some sufficient conditions for convergence
are derived. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between
the electrical parameters of the distribution system and the math-
ematical parameters that influence the convergence properties of
the algorithm. The numerical results obtained in the case of some
test systems give evidence of the features of the algorithm.
Index Terms—Convergence of numerical methods, load flow
analysis, Newton–Raphson method, object-oriented methods,
object oriented programming, power distribution.
I. INTRODUCTION
L OAD flow analysis is a basic function in modern distribu-
tion management systems (DMSs) [1]. In literature, many
methods and solving algorithms have been proposed for dis-
tribution load flow analysis. They can be essentially classified
into three categories: direct methods, backward/forward sweep
methods, and Newton–Raphson (NR)-based methods.
Direct methods [2], [3] require the construction of an
impedance matrix and the direct solution of some equations
in the form . These methods usually present a heavy
computational burden and require an accurate numbering of
nodes and branches. On the other hand, these methods prove
to converge also in the case of unbalanced systems and weakly
meshed topologies.
Backward/forward sweep methods are based on a
Gauss-Seidel iterative technique. The basic method has
been presented in [4]. The case of weakly meshed topologies is
treated by breaking the loops and by applying the equivalent
current injection (ECI) method to the break points. The ap-
proach in [4] has been extended to account for load dependency
on the voltage amplitude in [5] and for unbalanced systems
in [6]. Improvements of the computational efficiency of the
algorithms have been proposed in [7]–[9]. The convergence
characteristics of such methods have been studied in [10].
Backward/forward sweep methods usually present a slow
convergence rate but each iteration is computationally efficient.
The NR-based methods use the distribution load flow
equations to derive voltage drop and power propagation along
Manuscript received November 15, 2002. This work was supported by Min-
istero dell’ Istruzione, Universita e Ricérca (MIUR).
The authors are with the Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università
degli Studi di Cassino, Cassino 03043, Italy (e-mail: russo@unicas.it).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRS.2003.818600
0885-8950/03$17.00 © 2003 IEEE
1265
a radial distribution system [11]. The values of the active and
reactive powers that are injected into the main section and into
the laterals are corrected using the Jacobian matrix and the
power errors at the terminal nodes. In [12], the convergence
characteristics of the NR-based method have been studied in
the case of radial networks. The method has been extended to
unbalanced systems in [13] and improvements of the computa-
tional efficiency of the solving algorithms have been proposed
in [14]–[16]. A hybrid NR-ECI approach has been proposed in
[17] to cope with weakly meshed topologies. The NR-based
method is applied to a radial network which is obtained by
breaking the loops and applying the ECI method to the break
points. Such hybrid method has been extended to unbalanced
systems in [18]. Generally speaking, the NR-based methods
present a high convergence rate but each iteration requires
matrix computations.
In conclusion, it can be stated that research efforts have
aimed at improving computational efficiency of the solving
algorithms, which are derived from the basic methods initially
proposed more than ten years ago.
At the same time, many changes in DMSs took place during
the last decade, with reference to their functions, architectures,
and computing characteristics. New functions are needed to
cope with increased power quality requirements and to fully ex-
ploit the introduction of automation, power electronic devices,
and distributed generation. Modern large-scale management
systems use redundant industry-standard local area networks
[19] or wide area networks [20], and object-oriented (OO) pro-
gramming [21], to fully exploit the advantages of open systems
architectures, especially in terms of expansibility, flexibility,
and easiness of maintenance. In such architectures, distributed
computation can be adopted [22] so as to significantly increase
DMS computing capacity. Consequently, the computational
efficiency of the algorithms is becoming a less tightening
design constraint than it was in the past.
In addition, in the case of distribution systems with high num-
bers of components, OO programming proves to be very attrac-
tive because it allows the following:
• a single OO model as common reference for all DMS func-
tions;
• a single database without conversion of names and num-
berings of components;
• an easy treatment of the system topology changes;
• the painless introduction of new components.
The authors have presented in [23] a novel approach to load
flow analysis for radial distribution systems, which fully ex-
ploits the advantages of OO programming. In the present paper,
1266 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER SYSTEM, VOL. 18, NO. 4, NOVEMBER 2003

the previously presented OO-based load flow modeling is ex-

tended to account also for weakly meshed distribution systems.
The distribution load flow equations are revised to include both
real and imaginary components of bus voltages. An additional
component is introduced to model looping switches. An OO al-
gorithm based on the NR technique is proposed. In the OO for-
mulation, some approximations to the full Jacobian matrix have
to be introduced. Consequently, a detailed study of the conver-
Fig. 1. Class hierarchy for distribution load flow modeling.
gence characteristics of the proposed OO algorithm is presented
and some sufficient conditions for convergence are derived. Par-
ticular attention is paid to the relationship between the electrical
parameters of the distribution system and the mathematical pa-
rameters that influence the convergence properties of the algo-
rithm. The numerical results obtained in the case of some test
systems give evidence of the features of the algorithm.

II. OBJECT ORIENTED DISTRIBUTION LOAD FLOW MODELING

Classes are the key concept in the OO modeling of a system.
They are set of objects that share the same attributes, properties,
and behavior.
In the load flow problem modeling, the base class is an ab-
stract class named connection. It has ports and it represents some
relations between port variables. Each port is characterized by
four variables, which represent the active and reactive powers
and the real and imaginary components of the voltage at the
port. A connection port is referred to be incoming or outgoing
according to whether the conventional direction of powers is as- Fig. 2. Simple distribution system: (a) one-line diagram; (b) oriented graph of
sumed to be inwards or outwards oriented. instances in the OO modeling.
From the connection class, all of the concrete classes needed
to load flow problem modeling are derived: The oriented graph of object instances is divided into sec-
• branch is a connection with a single incoming port and tions. A section is defined as a sequence of connections, starting
a single outgoing port and it models a physical line or a with either a root or a fork, ending with either a fork, or a ter-
transformer; minal or a switch, and with only branches in between. Let us
• root is a connection with a single outgoing port and it assume that the network has sections and the sec-
models the supplying system at higher voltage level; tion is composed of a starting connection, branches and an
• fork is a connection with a single incoming port and ending connection. Notation stands for quantity referred
multiple outgoing ports and it models a zero-impedance to the connection of the section.
busbar; For example, Fig. 2(a) shows the one-line diagram and the re-
• terminal is a connection with a single incoming port and lated oriented graph of instances [Fig. 2(b)] for a simple distri-
it models the “dead” end of the distribution system; bution system. The graph is composed of a main section (section
• switch is a connection with two incoming ports and it #0) which starts with the root and ends with a fork. Two subse-
models a looping switch. quent sections (sections #1 and #2) starts with the fork and end
The diagram in Fig. 1 shows the class hierarchy with a higher start with a switch. In this simple system, , ,
generalization level (the class connection) and a lower special- , and .
ization level (the concrete classes). In the following, the equations that characterize each class
A specific distribution system is modeled by an oriented are analyzed. They refer to steady-state balanced operation of
graph of object instances. The association of instances is distribution systems.
obtained by connecting outgoing ports to incoming ports. The
graph is built according to the following constraints: A. Branch
• an outgoing port can be connected to only one incoming Branches are used to model physical lines and transformers,
port; including loads and shunt compensating devices at the ending
• an incoming port can be connected to only one outgoing busbar. Fig. 3 shows the equivalent electrical circuit assumed for
port; the branch belonging to the section. The incoming port
• no port can be left unconnected. variables are , , , and , which represent,
Consequently, only root objects can be the origins of the ori- respectively, the incoming active and the reactive powers and
ented graph and only terminal or switch objects can be the ends the real and imaginary parts of the voltage, all referring to the
of the graph. starting bus. The outgoing port variables are , , , and
LOSI AND RUSSO: OBJECT-ORIENTED LOAD FLOW FOR RADIAL AND WEAKLY MESHED DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS 1267

(9)
(10)

D. Terminal
Terminals represent the “dead” end of the distribution system
and model an infinite impedance connected to the incoming
port. For a terminal located after the branch at the end of
the section, the equations that are forced on the port vari-
Fig. 3. Branch equivalent circuit. ables are

, which represent, respectively, the outgoing active and the (11)

reactive powers and the real and imaginary parts of the voltage (12)
at the ending bus. The equations that relate the outgoing port
variables to the incoming port variables are E. Switch
The switch class is used to represent a looping switch in
(1)
distribution systems with meshed topology. A switch has
two incoming ports and two states—open or closed. In the
open (closed) state, it represents an infinite impedance (a zero
(2) impedance) connecting the two ports. Any other logical device
can be represented either by a combination of two or more
switch objects or by a further specialization of the class switch.
[See equations (3) and (4) at the bottom of the page].
Let us consider the switch that connects the branch at
B. Root the end of the section to the branch at the end of the
section. In the open state, the switch model yields, for each
The root class is used to represent the supplying system at
section, a couple of equations of the same type as the terminal
higher voltage level. It is the starting connection of the first sec-
ones (11), (12). In the closed state, the switch is modeled by the
tion (section #0). It has only an outgoing port and the following
following relations between the two sets of port variables:
equations are forced on the port variables:
(13)
(5)
(14)
(6)
(15)
where and are, respectively, the real and the
imaginary components of the slack bus voltage phasor, which (16)
are constant values.
III. OBJECT-ORIENTED ALGORITHM
C. Fork
The fork class represents a zero-impedance busbar that con- Concerning the choice of the type of distribution load flow
nects an incoming port to two or more outgoing ports. It is the algorithm, reference can be made to the classification presented
ending connection of the incoming section and the starting con- in Section I.
nection of the outgoing sections. With reference to a fork which Direct methods are essentially system-based methods which
is located after the branch at the end of the section and cannot be applied to the OO problem modeling presented in the
which supplies the sections that belong to the set , the equa- previous Section II.
tions that relate port variables are The backward/forward sweep methods can be easily imple-
mented in the OO framework in the case of radial topology. On
(7) the contrary, in the case of weakly meshed topologies, the ECI
method usually requires the construction of sensitivity matrices
(8) related to the overall system [7]. Consequently, the ECI method
is not quite compatible with an OO approach.

(3)

(4)
1268 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER SYSTEM, VOL. 18, NO. 4, NOVEMBER 2003

Also, in the case of NR techniques, the construction of a In all cases, the root and the forks correct the values of active
system matrix, namely the Jacobian matrix, is required. How- and reactive powers using the results and
ever, in the following, it is shown how some approximations to available from the previous iteration
the Jacobian matrix allow it to easily implement an OO algo-
rithm based on the NR technique. (18)
In addition, the NR technique usually converges to solution in (19)
a lower number of iterations than the backward/forward sweep
Then, the branches of the section carry out their com-
methods [13], [16]. Such feature is particularly important be-
putations in sequence. The load flow equations (1)–(4) are eval-
cause the OO programming increases the computing burden of
uated for using the values to obtain
each iteration, due to message passing among objects.
the values . In addition, using the partial derivatives of
In conclusion, the OO distribution load flow algorithm is
(1)–(4), the contribution to the Jacobian matrix re-
chosen to be based on the NR technique. The main features of
lated to the section is evaluated by each branch. In partic-
the related OO program are local processing, message passing
ular, the branch of the section receives the Jacobian
among objects, and graph traversing techniques. In the scope
matrix from the preceding branch, evaluates the Jacobian
of the present paper, only the features of the OO algorithm
matrix according to
are studied, while readers are referred to [23] for more details
concerning the OO software implementation.

A. NR Algorithm
The classical NR algorithm is composed of two phases:
(20)
1) evaluating the current values of all the variables and, for
such values, the errors and the Jacobian matrix of the
equations; and sends it downstream to the next connection.
2) correcting the values of the variables using the errors and Eventually, the Jacobian matrix related to the sec-
the Jacobian matrix. tion is available at the ending connection of the section. The
The OO algorithm is derived from the OO problem modeling following partition of the matrix into four 2 2 matrices is
presented in Section II. In the problem domain, each class has assumed:
been assigned some equations. Then, each class contributes to
the algorithm with a specific method for each one of the above (21)
two phases.
For the sake of conciseness, vector notation is adopted; all The ending connections of the sections evaluate the equation
vectors are column vectors. The values of the outgoing port vari- errors.
ables of the branch of the section during the itera- If the ending connection of the section is a terminal or an
tion of the algorithm are represented by open switch, from (11) and (12) it evaluates the error by
(17) (22)
where T stands for transposition. In the case of a closed switch, which connects the section
1) Phase 1: The first phase of the iteration is performed to the section from (13)–(16), the error is obtained as
by a downstream graph traversing. Starting from the root, com-
putation is performed by each object using new values of the
incoming port variables. After computation is completed, new (23)
values of the outgoing port variables are passed downstream to-
ward the next connection. In this way, the computation of the Finally, if the ending connection of the section is a fork
first section (section #0) is carried out. Then, the computations which supplies the sections that belong to the set , from (7)
related to the other sections are performed in sequence by prop- and (8), it evaluates the error by
agation from the starting connection, through the branches, to
the ending connection.
Let us refer to the section: its computation is initiated by
evaluating at the starting connection. (24)
In the case , the starting connection is a root and (5) 2) Phase 2: The second phase of the iteration is per-
and (6) are used to evaluate the voltages and . formed by an upstream graph traversing. Computation starts
In other cases, the starting connection is a fork. Let us assume, from the terminal and the switch objects of the last sections. For
according to (7)–(10), that the section is one of the sections the section, the corrections and are eval-
that are connected to the end of the section. Using the values uated by the ending connection, as described in the following,
available from the section, in particular the values and sent upstream to the starting connection. Then, computa-
and , and are evaluated by (9) and (10), tion continues with the previous sections and, eventually, with
respectively. the first section.
LOSI AND RUSSO: OBJECT-ORIENTED LOAD FLOW FOR RADIAL AND WEAKLY MESHED DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS 1269

If the ending connection of the section is a terminal or an The remaining constraints to be forced are related to the root
open switch, it evaluates the corrections by [see (21) and (22)] object: due to (5) and (6) the only variables in are and
.
(25) In conclusion, the load flow problem is composed of six equa-
tions, namely (29), (30), (35), (36), with six unknown variables
In the case of a closed switch connecting the section to
the section, it evaluates the corrections by [see (21) and (23)] (37)
A full NR algorithm can be applied to such nonlinear
(26) problem; it requires evaluating the corrections to be
applied to at each step by solving the following linear
where problem:

(27) (38)

where
Finally, if the ending connection of the section is a fork
which supplies the sections that belong to the set , it evaluates (39)
the corrections by [see (24)]
where is given by (24) for , , , and
by (22) for , 2, and where, see (29), (30), (35), and
(36) hold
(28)
(40)
where and are the corrections available from
the downstream sections supplied by the fork.
is the 2 2 identity matrix and the null matrix.
B. Simple System Application Let us now consider the proposed OO algorithm applied to
the simple system. Corrections are obtained by (25) specified for
Let us consider the simple system shown in Fig. 2 as a
, 2 and (28) specified for , . Substituting
working example. In the following, the approximations to the
the corrections obtained from (25) into (28) yields the following
full NR technique introduced by the proposed algorithm are
recursive equation in matrix form:
analyzed in the two cases of radial and meshed topologies,
respectively, according to whether the switch is in the open or (41)
closed state.
1) Radial Topology: In the case of open switch, the OO with
modeling [see Fig. 2(b)] yields the following load flow equa-
tions written in a compact formulation. From (7)–(10), the
following equations are derived:
(29)
(30) It can be easily proved that (41) is the solution of the original
NR linear problem (38) substituting the following approximated
Jacobian matrix for the full matrix:
(31)
(32) (42)
where the components of are functions of by (1)–(4) spec-
ified for , . From (40) and (42), the following equation is derived:
Similarly, from (11) and (12), the following equations are de-
rived: (43)

(33) with
(34)
Substituting (31) and (32) for the corresponding components of
in (33) and (34) yields
2) Meshed Topology: In the case of closed switch, the
(35) OO modeling [see Fig. 2(b)] yields the following load flow
(36) equations written in a compact formulation. Concerning the
1270 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER SYSTEM, VOL. 18, NO. 4, NOVEMBER 2003

fork object, (29)–(32) still stand. Concerning the closed switch, Gauss–Seidel algorithm, it additionally requires only the con-
(13)–(16) can be written as [similar to (35) and (36)] struction and the inversion of a 2 2 or 4 4 matrix for each
section, see (21) and (25)—(28).
On the other hand, the proposed OO algorithm is essentially
(44) an approximated NR technique. In both the cases of radial and
weakly meshed topologies, the approximation can be expressed,
see for example (43) and (52), in terms of difference
(45)
between the full NR Jacobian matrix and the matrix
used by the algorithm at the step of the iterative solution.
(46) Then, it is important to study the convergence characteristics of
the OO algorithm.
(47) A. Sufficient Conditions for Local Convergence
The load flow problem is still composed of six equations, As well known from numerical analysis [24], the full NR
namely (29), (30), and (44)–(47), with six unknown variables technique assures convergence to a solution with an order which
given by (37). is at least equal to two in the case of quadratic convex prob-
Applying a full NR solving technique to such nonlinear lems. Due to (1)–(4), the distribution load flow problem is not
problem requires evaluating the corrections to be quadratic. Yet, the above convergence characteristics are guar-
applied to at each step by solving the linear problem (38), anteed if the starting point belongs to a closed convex set that
where includes the solution. Various methods have been proposed in
literature [25] to define sufficient conditions for the existence
(48) of such a region and to determine its dimension.
being given by (24) (specified for , ), Following the trace of classical numerical analysis of the full
by (23) (specified for , ), and where (29), NR algorithm, assuming that the Jacobian matrix is Lipschitz
(30), and (44)–(47) hold with constant , in the Appendix, the following inequality is
derived for the iteration of the proposed approximated NR
algorithm:

(49)

(53)
Let us now consider the proposed NR algorithm applied to
the simple system. Corrections are obtained by (26) for , where is the 2-norm (the Euclidean length for vectors),
, and (28) for , ; the recursive equations is the solution of the distribution load flow problem, is the
can be written in matrix notation square root of the smallest eigenvalue of the symmetric positive
definite matrix , and is the spectral radius of
(50) , that is the square root of the biggest eigenvalue of the
symmetric non negative definite matrix . From
where is a 2 4 matrix equal to . (53), the following can be easily derived:
It can be easily proved that (50) is the solution of the original Theorem 1: If the Jacobian matrix is Lipschitz
NR linear problem (38) substituting the full matrix given with constant and , then there ex-
by (49) with the following approximated Jacobian matrix: ists such that, if
, then .
(51) In practice, Theorem 1 can be read as a condition—
—to be satisfied at the step of the iterative procedure,
From (27), (51), and (49), the following equation is derived: which guarantees that is closer to the solution than
(52) , if the solution is sufficiently close (inside a sphere of
radius ) to .
with Theorem 1 is a general result that can be applied to any ap-
proximated NR algorithm. It quantifies a sufficient condition to
be satisfied and the radius of the region of con-
vergence . Both the condi-
tion and the radius are strictly related to the approximation that
is applied to the full Jacobian matrix by the values of and
IV. CONVERGENCE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE OBJECT . It is worth noting that in the case of a full NR algorithm
ORIENTED ALGORITHM and , being the square root of
Each iteration of the OO algorithm described in Section III the smallest eigenvalue of the symmetric positive definite ma-
is quite computationally efficient. In comparison with an OO trix .
LOSI AND RUSSO: OBJECT-ORIENTED LOAD FLOW FOR RADIAL AND WEAKLY MESHED DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS 1271

If the sufficient conditions of Theorem 1 holds,

then comes the problem of choosing a starting point of the al-
gorithm which is “sufficiently close” to the solution according
to the concept of region of convergence in Theorem 1. In prac-
tice, it is not a very difficult problem. The choice of an initial
starting value which is acceptable from the physical point
of view usually guarantees convergence to the solution of the
approximated NR technique. The starting point of the proposed
iterative algorithm can be easily chosen, for example, by fixing
the initial values of the active and reactive powers supplied by
the starting connection of each section equal to the total load
supplied by the section in the rated operating conditions.

B. Convergence Rate
Under the assumption that Theorem 1 holds, let us consider
the order of convergence of the proposed algorithm to the solu-
tion. It should be noted that in the case of a full NR algorithm
in (53), only the quadratic term is present, as ex-
pected from literature. In the case of the proposed approximated
NR algorithm, the right-hand side of (53) includes also a linear
term. In practice, the approximation of the Jacobian matrix can
lead to a convergence which is less than quadratic. Such phe-
nomena can be related to the values of the ratios
and .
Concerning , due to the peculiar form of [see, Fig. 4. Index of Convergence (IC) of the algorithm for the radial topology:
a) increasing loads; b) increasing the impedances of sections #1 and #2; and c)
for example, (43) and (52)], it can be easily proved [26] that increasing the impedance of the supplying transformer (section #0).
. Consequently, for a given and , the effect
of the approximation of the Jacobian matrix causes a reduction
gence. The right-hand side of (54) can be directly related to the
of the value of , that is of the convergence constant
of the quadratic term of (53). At the same time, the approxima- electrical parameters of the distribution system that affect the
absolute values of the elements of , see (55) and (56).
tion of the Jacobian matrix introduces the linear term of con-
vergence, whose weight increases proportionally to the value of
C. Effects of the Distribution System Electrical Parameters
. Then, to keep a significant prevalence of the
quadratic term of convergence over the linear one in (53) it is Let us analyze the effects of the values of the electrical param-
sufficient that . eters of the distribution system on the convergence characteris-
Let us analyze how such convergence features can be influ- tics of the algorithm. Reference is made to the simple system of
enced by the approximation and by the structure of the Jacobian Fig. 2, considering first the radial topology and then the meshed
matrix, with particular reference to the effects of the physical pa- topology.
rameters of the distribution system. In fact, the value of is 1) Radial Topology: In the case of a radial topology (open
strongly dependent on the values of the electrical parameters of switch in Fig. 2), reference is made to (43). From the partial
the distribution system which affect the components of . derivatives of (1)–(4), it is apparent that the absolute values of
From linear algebra, it can be written [26] the elements of for , 2 are essentially related to
the active and reactive losses of the section, whereas the ab-
(54) solute values of the elements of are essentially related
to the voltage drop along the section #0.
where is the 1-norm of which can be easily To quantify such dependencies, Fig. 4 shows the plot of the
evaluated as index of convergence of the algorithm versus the value of
as evaluated at the solution. The is evaluated over iterations
(55)
by the following equation:

being the element at the row and column of (57)

, and where is the -norm of which
can be easily evaluated as Obviously, the is not strictly the order of convergence, but it
is a useful index of the actual convergence performance of the
(56)
algorithm.
With reference to Fig. 4, in case a) the loads of the two sec-
So, the smaller the values of and , the tions #1 and #2 are increased, yielding an increase of active and
smaller and, consequently, the higher the order of conver- reactive losses along the two sections as well as an increase of
1272 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER SYSTEM, VOL. 18, NO. 4, NOVEMBER 2003

the voltage drop on the supplying transformer. In case b), the line
impedances of the two sections #1 and #2 are increased, yielding
an increase of active and reactive losses. Finally, in case c), the
impedance of the supplying transformer is increased, yielding
an increase of the voltage drop along section #0.
In all three cases, due to the changes of the values of the elec-
trical parameters, the value of increases and, consequently, the
of the algorithm decreases almost linearly in a logarithmic
scale. It should be noted that the highest values of always
correspond to extreme operating conditions of the distribution
system, which are only theoretical because of the poor voltage
profile that would not be acceptable in actual operation. Yet, in
such extreme conditions, the values of still guarantee conver-
gence of the algorithm (in fact, in all cases ),
although with a low convergence rate .
2) Meshed Topology: In the case of a meshed topology
(closed switch in Fig. 2), reference is made to (52).
Concerning the term the same
considerations as the ones in Section IV-C-1 related to the terms
and can be made.
In addition, in (52) presents another submatrix, that
is , which is a further contribution
to the value of with respect to the corresponding radial case.
From the partial derivatives of (1)–(4), it is apparent that the
absolute values of the terms of such submatrix are mainly related
Fig. 5. Index of Convergence (IC) of the algorithm for the meshed topology:
to the “unbalance” of the voltage drops along the two sections a) increasing loads of section #1; b) increasing the impedances of section #1;
(#1 and #2) that are connected by the closed switch as well as and c) increasing the impedance of the supplying transformer (section #0).
to the voltage drop along the section #0.
Consequently, to quantify the dependencies on the electrical
configuration of the test system, the user must simply edit a
parameters, Fig. 5 shows the plot of the of the algorithm
parameter of the “Switch” object, changing it from “open” to
versus the value of as evaluated at the solution. In particular,
in case a) the loads of the section #1 are increased, yielding an “closed” value.
increase of active and reactive losses along the section and an The performance of the proposed algorithm in all of the pos-
unbalance of the voltage drop with respect to section #2, as well sible configurations of the test system in Fig. 6 has been evalu-
as an increase of the voltage drop on the supplying transformer. ated. Different loading conditions of the system have been ana-
In case b), the line impedances of the section #1 are increased, lyzed by changing the load level, using a scaling factor applied
yielding an increase of active and reactive losses and an unbal- to all the nodal loads. In each configuration of the system, the
ance of the voltage drop with respect to section #2. Finally, in load level has been increased up to system voltage profile ex-
case c), the impedance of the supplying transformer is increased, treme conditions, characterized by over 25% voltage drop at the
yielding an increase of the voltage drop along section #0. ends of the sections. In all of the cases, the same initialization of
From Fig. 5, the same considerations as the ones related to the algorithm has been assumed. In particular, the values of the
the cases of Fig. 4 can be drawn. active and reactive powers supplied by the starting connection
of each section have been assumed to be equal to the total active
V. NUMERICAL APPLICATIONS and reactive loads supplied by the section in the case of radial
network (open switches) and of load level equal to 1.
The OO distribution load flow has been implemented in In all of the considered cases, the algorithm converged to the
Ptolemy [27], which is an open software computer-aided-de- correct load flow solution. The accuracy required at the solution
sign (CAD) environment based on C++ language. For details was equal to 0.001 in per unit of the system base (10 kVA, 12.66
about the software implementation, reference can be made to kV).
[23]. In the following, the case of the 69-branch distribution Concerning the convergence performance of the algorithm,
test system described in [11] is considered. In addition to with reference to the two extreme cases in which all the four
the standard configuration, four switches are included, which switches are, respectively, open and closed, Tables II and III
allow four loops to be closed. The OO graphical representation report, for different load levels, the number of iterations needed
of the test system with the additional switches is shown in to reach convergence, the infinity-norm of the initial error
Fig. 6. With reference to the enumeration of branches and and the as defined in (57). The results for other
nodes adopted in [11], Table I reports the numbers of the two configurations, in which some switches are open and some
nodes that are connected by each switch (see also Fig. 6 for are closed, are not reported: they are indeed intermediate in
switch numbering). According to Section II, to change the between the results shown in Tables II and III.
LOSI AND RUSSO: OBJECT-ORIENTED LOAD FLOW FOR RADIAL AND WEAKLY MESHED DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS 1273

Fig. 6. Graphical OO representation of the 69-branch test system (arrows evidence additional switches).

TABLE I VI. CONCLUSION

SWITCH POSITION
The OO paradigm has been applied to the load flow problem
for radial and weakly meshed distribution systems. A robust
OO algorithm based on NR technique has been proposed, which
proves to reach convergence in few iterations, even in extreme
operating conditions of weakly meshed topologies. Each iter-
ation does not require heavy computations, although the OO
approach introduces a message passing overhead. On the other
TABLE II hand, the OO-based modeling gives new features to the soft-
ALGORITHM PERFORMANCE WITH OPEN SWITCHES
ware, such as flexibility, extensibility, easiness of maintenance,
and can best exploit the advantages of distributed computing in
open systems architectures of modern DMSs.
Future work will concern the inclusion of the models of
voltage-dependent loads, of distributed generation and of other
components, as well as the extension to unbalanced distribution
systems.

APPENDIX
TABLE III In the following, equation (53) is derived for a generic ap-
ALGORITHM PERFORMANCE WITH CLOSED SWITCHES
proximated NR algorithm. At the step of the iterative al-
gorithm, according to the NR technique, the new values of the
variables are evaluated by

(58)

being is the current value of the set of equations to be

solved. Let us indicate the values of the variables at the solution
with , that is . Then, (58) can be written as
From Tables II and III, it is apparent that:
• in all cases the order of convergence is at least unitary;
• increasing the load level worsens the performance in terms (59)
of convergence rate (see Section IV-C);
• closing loops worsens the convergence performance with From (59), the following inequality is derived referring to the
respect to radial topology for a given load level (see Sec- 2-norm of vectors and matrices:
tion IV-C);
• closing all of the switches allows to significantly increase
the loading capability of the distribution system. (60)
1274
Concerning the second term in (60), it is given by [28]
(61)
with
(62)
moreover, since is an approximation of the full Jacobian
matrix it can be expressed as
(63)
and substituting (63) for in the right-most term in (60)
yields
(64)
Referring to the right-hand side terms in (64), if is assumed
to have Lipschitz derivative with constant , then
(65)
moreover, the following condition stands [28]
(66)
being . Substi-
tuting (65) and (66) into (64), and then, (61) and (64) into (60)
yields (53).
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Arturo Losi (M’97) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from
the Università degli Studi di Napoli, Napoli, Italy, in 1987.
Currently, he is a Professor of Electrical Power Systems at the Università degli
Studi di Cassino, Cassino, Italy.
Dr. Losi is a member of AEI (the Italian Institute of Electrical Engineers).
Mario Russo (M’92) received the electrical engineering degree from the Uni-
versità degli Studi di Napoli, Napoli, Italy, in 1988.
Currently, he is Associate Professor of Electrical Power Systems at the Uni-
versità degli Studi di Cassino, Cassino, Italy.
Prof. Russo is a member of AEI (the Italian Institute of Electrical Engineers)
and IFAC.