How Design Optimization Works

Designers are often tasked with creating underground residential designs (URDs) for new residential developments. An optimized URD meets electrical demands of the new development while minimizing material costs and other costs associated with transformer under-utilization and over-building of secondary circuits.

Design Optimization uses electrical algorithms, configurable electrical policies, material catalogs with cost information, and GIS data to automate the design of optimal layouts and material selection. This document describes Design Optimization's workflow and use of algorithms for creating optimized designs.

Design Optimization Work Flow

Design Optimization creates optimized designs in three main phases:

  1. A designer selects design parameters from the following data sources:
    • Device catalogs containing pre-defined characteristics and costs of transformers, pedestals, secondary and service conductors.
    • Cartographic Offset Specifications containing pre-defined pedestal, service point, and transformer offset information based on GIS data.
    • Electric Policy Settings containing a configurable selection of maximum transformer load, maximum voltage drop, and maximum voltage flicker policies.
    • Load Profiles containing characteristics of building floor area; peak and average kVA per area; peak, average, and motor start power factor; in-rush kVA; number of phases; and coincidence curves. Design Optimization applies the characteristics in a load profile to a selected set of parcels.
  2. Design Optimization runs algorithms on the input data.
  3. Design Optimization uses the algorithm results to select optimized transformers and conductors for the design.

    See How Design Optimization Works: Methodolgy and Algorithms for a discussion on the methods and algorithms Design Optimization uses to select optimized transformers and conductors.

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