A Multi-Agent Design for Power Distribution Systems Automation

A new Multi Agent System (MAS) design for fault location, isolation and restoration in power distribution systems is presented. In proposed approach, when there is a fault in the Power Distribution System (PDS), MAS quickly isolates the fault and restores the service to fault-free zones. Hierarchical coordination strategy is introduced to manage the agents which integrate the advantages of both centralized and decentralized coordination strategies. In this framework, Zone Agent (ZA) locate and isolate the fault based on the locally available information and assist the Feeder Agent (FA) for reconfiguration and restoration. FA can solve the restoration problem using the existing algorithms for the 0-1 Knapsack problem.;A novel Q-learning mechanism is also introduced to support the FAs in decision making for restoration. Also a distributed MAS-Based Load Shedding (LS) technique has been used to supply as many of higher priority customers as possible, in case there is more demand than generation. The design is illustrated by the use of simulation case studies for fault location, isolation and restoration on West Virginia Super Circuit (WVSC) and hardware implementation for fault location and isolation in a laboratory platform. The results from the case studies indicate the performance of proposed MAS designs.