Systems Integration has the experience and equipment to quickly and cost-effectively solve your most complex system problems. Ideally, power system studies should be performed prior to a system change or addition to prevent problems from occurring.

Power System Studies performed by Systems Integration include:

• Reliability Improvement
• Root Cause Analysis
• Overcurrent Protection and Coordination
• CAPS - Capacitor Application for Peak Shaving
• Motor Starting
• System Loss Reduction
• Harmonics/Filter Design
• Transient Overvoltages
• Ferroresonance
• Power Factor Correction
• Power Flow/Short Circuit/Stability
• Transient Testing of Protective Relays

The success of an electric utility in today's competitive business environment depends in part on overall service quality, a key element of which is system reliability. Electrical distribution reliability is affected by many factors including fault incident rate, adequate maintenance, and system design. Systems Integration has the resources and expertise to evaluate reliability improvement strategies. Cost effective equipment applications can be based on a solid engineering foundation.

Systems Reliability - Engineering Services Bulletin 00007
Distribution Reliability Improvements - Bulletin 98044

Root cause analysis identifies systemic causes and the appropriate prevention responses to solve operations problems. The approach can be applied to any operations problem and produces accurate, verifiable, and measurable solutions. The process involves objectively identifying direct causes and root causes, and determining the best control options.

Root Cause Analysis - Bulletin 98070

Coordination studies are required to select or verify fuse, circuit breaker, and relay characteristics. Corrective measures are suggested where satisfactory coordination is not achieved.

Peak load reduction is more important today than ever before. Cooper's CAPS strategy uses distribution capacitor placement to improve feeder voltage profiles, allowing for overall system voltage and load reduction during peak conditions.

Peak Shaving with Capacitors Can Reduce Premium Power Costs - Bulletin 01008

Motor-starting studies provide data to help you select the best starting method, the proper motor type, and the required system design for minimizing the impact of motor starting on your overall system.

Changes in the electric power industry are forcing utilities to reduce operating costs at all levels. One key opportunity is through re-evaluating system losses. Systems Integration provides cost-effective services to complement utility efforts to improve power factor levels and reduce system losses.

System Loss Evaluation Is Key To Reducing Costs - Bulletin 98043

The V-HARM™ program will determine resonant frequencies, and harmonic voltage and current levels throughout your system. Harmonic mitigation techniques can be analyzed to bring distortion levels within guidelines established by IEEE-519 and other standards.

Potentially damaging harmonics in a system can be eliminated by designing a properly tuned harmonic filter using the V-HARM program. Cooper Power Systems can supply the complete hardware package, making Cooper your single-source supplier for system studies, filter specifications, and hardware.

The Real-Time Transient Simulator (RTTS) uses analog simulations and system models to study low frequency transients associated with energizing or de-energizing operations, or where ferroresonance is suspected. High frequency transients are analyzed with digital tools such as the Alternate Transients Program (ATP) or the Electromagnetic Transients Program (EMTP).

Ferroresonance can occur in many different types of circuits. Looking at the problem from the outside, there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason for an occurrence of ferroresonance. Because of the confusion, unexplained equipment damage due to high magnitude overvoltages often gets blamed on ferroresonance.

Power factor studies are performed to examine power factor correction requirements and determine voltage regulation.

Power flow studies determine voltage and current flows for existing or proposed system conditions. These results are used to evaluate and specify equipment ratings for steady-state loads.

Short circuit studies are performed to calculate the available fault currents at various points on a network for the evaluation of protective devices and other equipment on the system.

Stability studies are done to evaluate synchronizing characteristics between two or more generators under fault and/or heavy/light load conditions. The intent is to identify conditions under which one machine will go unstable with respect to another. Stability studies are also done to evaluate the effectiveness of generator exciter and governor controls, as well as the effectiveness of dynamic devices such as Static Var Compensators.

The Real-Time Power System Simulator (RTPSS) simulates steady-state, quasi steady-state, and transient conditions in power systems. Voltage and current instrument transformer models are also integrated, Output signals are injected through high fidelity amplifiers into the protective relays under test, thus quantifying the overall relay scheme performance in an actual power system. The RTPSS is very effective to test setting selections for proposed system upgrades, compare relay responses from different manufacturers, and investigate abnormal operations. In addition, EMTP-generated or Digtal Fault Recorder-acquired waveforms may be replayed into the tested relays to verify system models and investigate particular phenomenon.

Testing Protective Systems Using A Real-Time Power System Simulator - Bulletin 96047

Systems Integration

Thomas A. Edison Technical Center
Staff Capabilities
Power Verdict Series™ Software