SWITCHING DECISION USING A KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS

A real time knowledge-based system is developed to assist switching de cisions in open loop operated distribution networks. This system appli es the logical ways and interlocking rules to avoid wrong switching de cisions which may result in severe conditions. The developed system fe atures a composite knowledge base of rules and frames, and a backward chaining inference engine. It manages to keep an up-to-date view of th e entire network status in its knowledge base by dynamically updating its model for switching states in real time whenever a switching reque st is honored. Frame-based knowledge is used to capture both network t opology and the technical and operating states of the bays and the swi tch gear. Alternatively, the logical and interlocking aspects are repr esented using rule-based knowledge. For different system operation con ditions, the inference engine determines and applies the appropriate s trategy for taking a switching decision. A prototype has been implemen ted and run on a personal computer using Turbo Prolog. Test results an d frame representations for a simple network are demonstrated.