Preprocessing Distribution Network Topology for Improved Performance of Network Reconfiguration

Voltage regulation is a prominent issue in distribution networks as distributed generation and electrical vehicle chargers become more popular. However, solving these issues in the distribution networks becomes challenging as the system is operated radially and due to the lack of equipment installed. To solve the voltage regulation issues, distribution network reconfiguration methods are developed. There are several approaches to this problem, and some of these sacrifice finding global optimal solution capability for shorter computation times, while the other approaches can take extremely long times. To find the best network topology for voltage regulation with improved computational performance, a method that uses a numerical approach and benefits from preprocessing the topology is proposed. The preprocessing method intends to decrease the size of the optimization problem by detecting independent rings and branches for parallel computation, and also by determining feasible networks. The optimization method for demonstration purposes depends on brute force, ensures global optimum without linearization of the constraints, and is a good example for observing the decrease in computation time caused by preprocessing.