1
A Universal Expert System to Form Switching Sequence
Su Sheng, Yang Lan, Wang Jin, Li Xinran, Chen Feng
Abstract-- Switching sequence expert system can form
switching sequence automatically according to operation
knowledge of field operators but it is difficult to applied for
different substations, especially those with different busbar
arrangement. This paper presents the reason why it is difficult to
adapt a switching sequence expert system for various substations
from a point view of complexity analysis. Furthermore, the paper
proposed a novel complexity reduction approach to low the
difficulty in adapting of the expert system for various substations.
A complexity reduction based expert system that can be adapted
for 39 different substations of Changsha electric power
corporation is also introduced in the paper.
Index Terms-- Expert System, Complexity Reduction,
switching sequence.
I. INTRODUCTION
O VER the past decade, many expert systems have been
developed and used for power systems switching
problems [l-3]. Some of these expert systems generate
switching sequence to achieve operational instructions using
knowledge acquired from human operators. Generally, they
perform excellent for a specific substation with the operational
knowledge integrated. While nowadays, with the development
of substation automation, more and more field operation may
be executed in dispatching center through tele-controlling,
which calls for a universal system to generate switching
sequence for various substations with different topology and
busbar section of the dispatching center.
In this paper, the author first analysis the reason why it is
difficult to generate switching sequence universally for
different substations in section II, and then, a rule are
introduced in section III to reduce the complexity of generating
switching sequence universally, and a complexity reduction
based universal expert system is proposed in section IV to
generate switching sequences for various substations of
different topology and busbar sections.
II. OBSTACLE IN UNIVERSAL GENERATION OF SWITCHING
SEQUENCE
A. Art of the state
Expert system, which can integrate knowledge of field
operators, has been the mainstream to generate switching
sequence of substations [1-3]. For the first generation of this
system, the algorithm or the knowledge base is usually fixed
This work was supported in part by Scientific Research Fund of Hunan
Provincial Education Department 04c131, 03c065.
Su Sheng, Yang Lan, and Wang Jin are with the Dept. of Electrical Engineering,
Changsha University of Science & Technology, P. R. China (e-mail:
eessheng@polyu.edu.hk; Wangjincjy1@vip.sina.com).
Li Xinran is with the Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Hunan University, P. R.
China (e-mail: Lixr1013@yahoo.com.cn;)
after system development, which may outgrow and
redeveloped when the topology of substation changes with
extension [1].
In order to make a intelligent system that can adapt to the
extension of substation, J. Yoshizawa [4] developed an
automatic knowledge acquisition expert system for switching
sequence, in which a learning algorithm named HCL
(Hierarchical Concept based Learning) is used to maintain and
extend its knowledge base by itself through past operational
experiences. The architecture of proposed system for switching
sequence generation is shown as Fig.1.
Fig.1 Architecture of Proposed switching sequence generation system
The knowledge base is automatically constructed by
obtaining operational experiences from the users at the system
development stage, and utilizing the generation results as new
experiences at the working stage. The sequence generator
produces switching sequences using this knowledge.
The generator can compensate for incomplete knowledge
with 'test-and-revision' mechanism for generated sequences, as
the available knowledge may not be enough to solve all
possible problems at the initial working stage. HCL makes use
of some conceptual hierarchies for learning, for instance, the
hierarchy of domain model that expresses physical
relationships among components.
The knowledge to be acquired is for the generation of
switching sequence operations, such as the opening or closing
of switching devices. Knowledge can be extracted from the
past experiences of operators rather directly from them. The
knowledge base is automatically updated every time the human
experts interact with the system. The inclusion of the HCL
mechanism in to the expert systems architecture enables the
automatic maintenance of the knowledge base.
HCL produces some 'generalized knowledge' that can
break down operational instructions into ordered device
switching operations. The HCL produces knowledge to
generate switching sequence for bus-bar transfer instruction,
which is equally applicable to other substations as well.
A learning process of the HCL is divided into important
two phases of 1) Organization of one switching experience and
2) Generalization of similar switching experiences. In the
Organization phase, HCL analyzes given experience by
explaining causal relationships among operations and state
transitions. All the operations and state transitions are enrolled
in a tree structure, the top node corresponds to an operational

instruction such as busbar transfer. In the generalization phase,
the HCL integrates similar experiences into common
operational rules by changing their constants to variables.
B. Obstacle in universal generation of switching sequence
The most obstacle to generate switching sequence
universally lies in the validity of operational knowledge depends
on the busbar arrangements, i.e., an operational knowledge of a
busbar arrangement may not be appropriate for another busbar
arrangement. Thereafter, The HCL approaches may perform
excellent for a single substation or different substations of the
same busbar arrangement, but the situation is totally different
when it comes for different substation of different busbar
arrangements. The difference will be demonstrated as followed
from a point view of complexity.
For the expert system to form switching sequence of a
single substation of fix busbar arrangement, the knowledge base
has a moderate size, while when it is used to generate switching
sequence universally, the knowledge base should be bulk and
comprehensive to accommodate exhaustive operation
knowledge for numerous combination of busbar arrangement,
which is rather difficult to implement. It order to show difficult it
is to form switching sequence universally, we set the complexity
to generate switching sequence for a single substation is set to 1
since it can be handled with exist expert system, also, the
switching sequence of the same busbar can be formed using the
same operational knowledge. When the switching sequence
system is used for substation of different busbar arrangements
with two coils transformer, the combination of busbar
arrangement is listed as table 1, and the combination of busbar
arrangement for the substation with 3 coils transformer is listed
as table 2.
Tab. 1 Permutations and combinations of bus-bar connection types in
substations with 2 voltage grades
Busbar
arrangement
Permutations and combinations Combinations
2 (A,B) (AA)(AB)(BA)(BB)
3 (A,B,C) (AA)(AB)(AC)(BA)(BB)(BC)(CA)(CB)(CC)
(AA)(AB)(AC)(AD)(BA)(BB)(BC)(BD)(CA)
4 (A,B,C,D)
(CB)(CC)(CD)(DA)(DB)(DC)(DD)
Tab. 2 Permutations and combinations of bus-bar connection types in
substations with 3 voltage grades
Busbar Combinations
arrangement
Permutations and combinations
2 (A,B) (AAA)(AAB)(ABA)(ABB)(BAA)(BAB)(BBA)(BBB)
(AAA)(AAB)(AAC)(ABA)(ABB)(ABC)(ACA)(ACB)
(ACC)(BAA)(BAB)(BAC)(BBA)(BBB)(BBC)(BCA)
3 (A,B,C)
(BCB)(BCC)(CAA)(CAB)(CAC)(CBA)(CBB)(CBC)
(CCA)(CCB)(CCC)
(AAA)(AAB)(AAC)(AAD)(ABA)(ABB)(ABC)(ABD)
(ACA)(ACB)(ACC)(ACD)(ADA)(ADB)(ADC)(ADD)
(BAA)(BAB)(BAC)(BAD)(BBA)(BBB)(BBC)(BBD)
4 (A,B,C,D)
(BCA)(BCB)(BCC)(BCD)(BDA)(BDB)(BDC)(BDD)
(CAA)(CAB)(CAC)(CAD)(CBA)(CBB)(CBC)(CBD)
(CCA)(CCB)(CCC)(CCD)(DCA)(DCB)(DCC)(DCD)
(DAA)(DAB)(DAC)(DAD)(DBA)(DBB)(DBC)(DBD)
(DCA)(DCB)(DCC)(DCD)(DDA)(DDB)(DDC)(DDD)
In table 1, A and B may stand for single and double
busbar, while the complexity for an expert system to form
switching sequence for combination of arrangement of A and B
will be 4. It can be seen from table 1 and 2 that the complexity
2
will increase exponentially with the increase of busbar
arrangement to be integrated.
With table 1 and 2, we can infer that for an switching
system to integrate substations of different busbar arrangements,
the complexity will be F = MN,
where M is number of busbar arrangements to be integrated,
N is the coils of the transformer.
Furthermore, with step down and step up substation with
different operational knowledge considered, the complexity will
be F=2×MN. Since transformers of 2 coils can be handled with
the same programming and infer algorithm of transformer of 3
coils, the complexity will be F = 2×M3. Hence, for a universal
switching sequence system for 10 different busbars
arrangements, the complexity of this system is
F=2×103=2000.When the switching sequence system is to be
adapt to more substations, the complexity will increase
exponentially and this will be a NP hard problem if there are
infinite busbar arrangements.
In order to make it more clear how difficult to form a
expert system to form switching sequence universally, let’s
suppose there are 20 rules to generate switching sequence for a
single substation, considering a switching sequence system for a
dispatching center of 10 different busbar arrangements, the
complexity will be 2000 and the rules to be learn will be 40000.
Obviously, it is rather difficult to enumerate all these rules even
though the system can learn from operational experience. Also,
the modification will be remarkable when a substation extended
for a new busbar arrangement that is not contained.
III. COMPLEXITY REDUCTION
Fortunately, there are some features can be used to reduce
the complexity of a universal switching system.
1. As far as operational switching of substation is considered,
there are two kind of operation. The first one involves
operations upon equipments of a single voltage grade (e.g.,
4 maintenance of a busbar); the second one involves operation
9 upon equipments of different voltage grade (e.g.,
maintenance of a transformer).
16
2. For the operation involves equipments of single voltage
grade, there are specific rules for specific busbar arrangement,
and the switching sequence can be generated using
corresponding rules knowing what kind of busbar
8 arrangement is.
3. For the operation involves equipments of different voltage
27 grades, it can be divided into several sequential
sub-operations upon different voltage grades. These
operations will follow in a voltage grade sequence. For
example, when a step down transformer is to be tripped for
64 maintenance, all lower voltage feeders should firstly be
redirected, then the circuit breaker (CB) connect to the low
voltage (LV) busbar be switched off, and CB feed in be
switched off lastly.
Hence, we may just decide the sequence to take operation
for which voltage grade, and the switching sequence of
sub-operation involving only equipments of single voltage
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grade can be form using corresponding operational knowledge iii. If operation of multi voltage grade is involved, the system
of its busbar. will decide sequence which voltage grade to form
Given the complexity to form switching sequence of switching sequence first, and which voltage last; then,
operation upon equipments of single voltage grade set to 1, the corresponding function module is to be called to form
complexity to universal switching sequence can be switching sequence sequentially, and all the generated
demonstrated as following. switching sequence combined to form the integrated
1. The complexity to form universal switching sequence for a switching sequence.
single voltage grade of M busbar will be F=2×M, where 2
stands for step up and step down substations;
2. For the universal switching sequence for multi voltage grade,
we need only decide switching sequence of which voltage
grade should be form first, and which one last, the switching
sequence of a single voltage grade can be formed using rules
of single voltage grade.
Hence, the complexity is approximately 2×M, i.e., two
times of the number of busbar arrangements to be integrated in
the system, and the complexity of universal switching sequence
can be reduced significantly from 2000 to 20.

IV. DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF THE EXPERT SYSTEM

C. Knowledge representation
Knowledge representation and inference strategy make
the two principle elements to artificial intelligence system. An
appropriate knowledge representation to primary and
secondary equipments is essential to form a universal
switching sequence system. In this paper, the data is
represented as: Unit (sName, IntVoltage, IntType, SubType, Fig.2. Wiring diagram of a substation
unit on I side, unit on J side, IntStatus);
There is a hierarchical relation among equipment of
substation. And the substation showed as Fig.2. can be
represented as Fig.3, from which we can see that transformer is
of the top layer, busbar next, CB is the third layer, while switch
remains the lowest layer. In Fig.3., all the unit will record the unit
of higher lay that connect to it, for example, for CB2, busbar 1
connect to I side and transformer connect to J side of CB2.
Thereafter, we can reconstruct topology of the whole substation
using its data representation.
D. Inference architecture
In order to infer switching sequence universally for Fig.3. Equipment knowledge representation of substation
various substations, the proposed switching sequence system
adopts architecture different from that of [2] as shown in Fig.4.
Also, the knowledge base of the switching sequence system is
integrated fixedly as module function since the rather low
complexity of the proposed expert system
It can be seem from Fig.4 that the formation of switching
sequence can be analyzed as following step:
i. When the operation order or state transition is inputted to
the switching sequence system, the syntax or the state
transition is firstly parsed to decide whether it involves a
switching of single voltage grade or multi-voltage grade;
ii. If only operation of single voltage needed, the system will Fig. 4 Flow chart to generate switching order versatile
call corresponding module according to busbar It should be mentioned that there is not much inference rules
arrangement and operation object to form switching to form switching sequence for a single voltage grade, which
sequence; can be implemented by “hard coded” in function module while
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not flexible as [4]. The number of this function module will be
the same as that of the buabar arrangement to be integrated in
the switching sequence system. When the system is to be
extending for a new busbar arrangement, we need only add a
function module for that baubar arrangement. Among this,
parse of the inputted syntax and state transition plays and its
schedule on switching sequence generation plays a paramount
role. The switching sequence is formed by the function module
in breadth first search strategy.
E. Application
A universal switching sequence system has been developed
for Changsha Electric Power Corporation, in which function
module for 13 different busbar arrangement has been
programmed, while application show that the system is adapt to
39 substations of changsha Electric Power Corporation of
different busbar arrangements. The proposed approach for
switching sequence generation can be represented with two
substations as shown in fig. 5 and fig.6.

Fig. 5 Wiring diagram of substation A

Fig. 6 Wiring diagram of substation B

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As step down substation, the electricity will flow from high analysis and planning, voltage stability, FACTS and application of IT in the
power system.
voltage (HV) busbar to middle voltage (MV) and LV busbar in
both substation A and B. Since generation rule for switching Li Xinran received his M.Sc and Ph.D degrees from Huabei University of
sequence involves busbar of a single voltage is comparatively Electric Power in 1992 and 1999 respectively. He is currently a professor with
simple, only generation of switching involves equipment of the Dept. of Electric Engineering, Hunan University. His preference includes
different voltage grade will be discussed in this paper. When power system analysis and planning, voltage stability, and application of IT in
the power system.
substation is to be tripped, all CB and switches that connect to
the busbar should be switch off, the order can be split for a
predicate “Switch off” and an object “transformer 1”. The
program will firstly check to see how much coils the
transformer has; Secondly, it will search for the CB in service
that connect to the transformer according to specific rules of
different busbar arrangement follows a LV, MV and HV
sequence. Switches should also be switched off after switching
off of corresponding CB. Thereafter, switching sequence of
CB 210, CB 430, CB 520 of substation A and CB310 of
substation B can be generated follow the same rule with busbar
arrangement. In the same, CB 510 and CB 610 of substation B
can be generated.

V.CONCLUSION
With the development of substation automation, more and
more field operation may be of substation can be executed in
dispatching center through tele-controlling, which calls for a
universal system to generate switching sequence for various
substations with different topology and busbar section of the
dispatching center. In this paper, the author analyzed the reason
why it is difficult to form switching sequence universally from
a point view of complexity, then a novel complexity reduction
based approach is proposed and a universal switching sequence
system that can adapt to 39 substations of Changsha Electric
Power Corporation is introduced.

REFERENCES
[1] Yuehui Deng, Boming Zhang, Yihang Yang. An application of expert
system to equipment operation of 500 kV substations. Proc. of the 3rd
World Congress on Intelligent Control and Automation, Vol 1, Jul.2000,
pp::220 - 224
[2] J.Yoshizawa, H.Ogi, T. Takano, et al. An Automatic Knowledge
Acquisition Method for Switchin g Sequences and Its Evaluation”, IEEE
Trans on Power Systems, Vo1.9, No.2, May 1994
[3] Ta-Kang Ma, Chen-ChingLiu, Mark Damborg et al,” An Integrated
Model- and Rule-Based Approach to Design of Automatic Switching for
Subtransmission Lines”, IEEE Trans on Power System, Vo1.9, No.2,
May 1992
[4] Z.Z.Zhang, G.S.Hope, O.P.Malik,” A Knowledge Based Approach to
Optimize Switching in Substations”, IEEE Trans. on Power Delivery,
Vo1.5, No.1, Jan.1990

Su Sheng received his M.Sc degree from Wuhan University,

China in 2002. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D at the Dept
of Electric Engineering, Huazhong University of Science &
Technology and is a Research Assistant of The Hong Kong
Polytechnic University. His interests are application of
artificial intelligence.

Wang Jin received her B.Eng and M.Sc degrees from Hunan University in
1983 and 1999 respectively. She currently works as a lecture in the Changsha
University of Science and Technology. Her preference includes power system