Project Scope:
Navy Ships use three phase power generated and distributed in an ungrounded delta configuration. The voltages are generated at levels of 450 Vac or 4,160 Vac and supplied at 440 Vac or 115 Vac at 60 Hz. The objective of the shipboard electrical power system is to provide continuity of electric power supply. In particular, the protection and control subsystem provide methods for segregating or isolating damaged sections of the electrical system to provide continuity of supply to ensure ship survivability.
The existing protection system has several shortcomings in providing continuous supply under battle conditions. The damage control strategies which are implemented when battle damage occurs to the ship are not effective in isolating only the loads affected by the battle damage and are highly dependent on human intervention to manually reconfigure the distribution system to restore supply to healthy loads.
This research involves the development and design of a system that will be coordinated with protective devices to assess fault conditions for automated identification of catastrophic failures and reconfiguration of the system to bypass faulty areas to deliver power to loads, in particular essential loads. The failure identification and system reconfiguration will utilize expert system and geographical information system (GIS) technologies to eliminate human mistakes, make intelligent reconfiguration decisions more quickly, and reduce the manpower required to perform the functions.
Researcher:
Principal Investigator: Dr. Karen L. Butler-Purry
Sponsors:
Career Award
National Science Foundation
Project Duration:
1996-1999
Research Assistants:
Hyder Do Carmo
Haibo Zhang
Adeoti Adeliran
Hong Xiao
Ujjwal Rajbhandari