Custom Power Supply and Critical Network Conditions

A good quality custom power supply must cope with the demands of critical network conditions. They must be extremely reliable.

A switched mode power supply is perfect, to provide controlled DC power in multiple input voltages. There may be problems on the DV side and on the main side but they can be prevented by adding expansion modules and UPS.

But before you get a custom power supply, assess the current situation in the network. Modules such as modal/eigen values analysis, harmonics, contingency analysis, electromagnetic transients, cost or reliability analysis can assist. Protection coordination, protection simulation, fault analysis, configuration, and operational planning are necessary too.

You can calculate the distribution of voltages, currents and network loads by using algorithms like current iteration and Newton-Raphson. Most embedded engineers must be expert enough to do this work themselves, without the assistance of outsiders. You must also analyze in advance, the factors that can cause an area wide power blackout.

There are many reasons why there could be a network wide blackout. For example, switching on/off certain lines can lead to a power outage. This can be handled by changing the load flow. You have to know where these measure will be successful (what lines must be switched). This you can do without additional cost, with a switched mode custom power supply.