An Efficient Procedure for Solving Radial Distribution Networks through the Backward/Forward Method

In the paper, after having presented the general backward/forward methodology for radial systems analysis, a new b/f procedure showing some interesting features that improve its performance in terms of convergence speed and calculation effort is presented. The features that fundamentally are responsible for such improvements concern the main steps of the b/f procedure. The starting voltage profile solution is different from the flat profile and is suitably modified. In the backward phase and starting from the second iteration, the branch currents variations due to the loads changes are evaluated; the latter variations are calculated on the basis of the difference of nodal voltages at the beginning and at the end of each iteration. Finally, the adopted convergence criterion is based on the entity of the difference between each load node current in two subsequent iterations. The results of the applications of the proposed methodology to a set of networks taken from the literature on the topic are reported. In this way, the performance of the proposed methodology has been evaluated in terms of computational efficiency. The results of other tests have evidenced the influence of each feature of the modified b/f methodology over its performances.