The methods to identify types of phase-to-phase short circuits that can be used to improve technical excellence by speed-current line protection of distribution networks of 6–35 kV are considered. As a result of the assessment of the appropriateness of their application in current protection, the choice was made in favor of the method based on the control of the relative current unbalance. The influence of contact resistances and load currents of various levels on the magnitude and character of the change of relative unbalance taking into account the errors of measuring transformers of current has been studied with the aid of the method of numerical experiment. It is demonstrated that in a lot of cases of arch short circuits in the loaded power line and in idle mode, the control only asymmetry is insufficient for reliable determination of the type of damage. A better algorithm has been proposed for determining phase-to-phase short circuit based on the control and the analysis of the two relative unbalance currents determined by the current values of the differences of the phase currents of the line. Its serviceability was evaluated. It was found out that in all the modes being considered, the proposed method – when boundary conditions are properly chosen – makes it possible to fix three-phase and two-phase short circuit on the protected line, and in the area of remote redundancy. The dynamic properties of the proposed method are investigated for different modes of the line. It is established that in the worst case, the determining of the damage is provided during the time not exceeding 25 ms.

The assessment of the suitability of cables of 6–110 kW with XLPE insulation in comparison with cables of the same voltage but possessing paper-oil insulation has been fulfilled on the basis of the method of multi-objective optimization that makes it possible to account not only the quantitative characteristics (of reduced costs), but also qualitative ones. As an indicator of the reliability of the cable line the maximum mean time to failure (the value inversely proportional to the parameter of succession of failures), which is an order more for cable lines with XLPE insulation than for cable lines with paper insulation, is adopted. A comprehensive assessment of the convenience of installation of cable lines revealed that the installation of cable with XLPE insulation features a 1.2–1.6 times easier installation as compared to three-wire (voltage 10 kW) and 1.4 times easier installation as compared to single-core oil-filled cables (voltage of 110 kW). The efficacy of the cables 6–110 kW with XLPE insulation is proved on the basis on the method of multi-objective optimization, that took into account as the costs for the construction and operation of cable lines and the reliability of its operation, ease of its installation and other quality indicators. If the goals taken into account are considered as equally important, the polyethylene-insulated cables for a voltage of 10–110 kW is more efficient as compared to three-wire (voltage 10 kW) and solid (110 kW) cables with paper insulation. Herewith, the cost of the cable with XLPE insulation may exceed the cost of cable with paper insulation up to two times. If the most important aim is to provide the minimum reduced costs for the construction and operation of the cable line, the use of cables with XLPE insulation for voltage of 10 kW is most advisable in individual cases.

The problem of expeditious correction has great practical value for operation of the power supply system and is one of the most important and complex challenges of an automated control system of an electrical power system. Its complexity is due to the dynamics and nonlinearity of equations of state of an electrical network, recorded as related to node voltages, and also due to multiply connected network elements. Attempts to solve the problem by using the theory of sensitivity lead to the appearance – in addition to the matrices of the generalized parameters of the network – of several sensitivity matrices, for the formation of which sufficiently effective algorithms for fast recalculation of the matrices when switching schemes are not yet developed. It results in a need to calculate matrix data anew at each switching, or to recognizing some mode as a basic one considering other modes virtually unchanged at relatively small deviations of the parameters, which, in its turn, leads to additional errors. The new method of calculation of the power flows distribution in the network is proposed that based is not on physical modeling of the structure of the investigated circuit, but on the mathematical modeling of the structure of the equations describing the flow distribution, thereby removing the limitations imposed by heterogeneity and the presence of transformations.

More than 70 % of the load in metallurgy, mining, gas, and other industries of the CIS consist of asynchronous motors. A relevant objective for all enterprises is to reduce consumption of reactive power in the network and ensuring reliable start of the engine by controlling the resistance value of the insulation. The most effective measure for reactive power compensation is placing the capacitor batteries directly at the points of connection of the asynchronous motor i. e. local reactive power compensation. The aim of the present research was to reduce the cost of production of the enterprise (which provides reactive power compensation), and in the period of technological pause to use the power stored in the capacitor to batteries in order control the changes of resistance value of insulation. After disconnecting the motor from the mains and its stop, the windings is being connected in parallel to the capacitor bank. The discharge of the capacitor is performed in the circuit consisting of the inductance of the motor winding, the integrated insulation resistance and battery capacity. Characteristic features of the transitional discharge process of the capacitor depend on the size of the equivalent circuit elements. The transition process may be aperiodic and periodic in its nature. Aging of motor winding causes a decrease of its impedance. When the magnitude of the insulation resistance reaches a critical value, this causes a change of the nature of the process. The device that has been developed monitors the insulation condition of the motor and the power supply cable during technological pauses without the low voltage power source and additional switching.

The operating mode of the lighting line depends on the correct choice of conductor cross section. The magnitude of the cross section has an influence on the provision of the required voltage levels on the light sources. The choice of the conductor cross section has been fulfilled based on calculations of the operating mode of the standard line of outdoor lighting specified in the article. Luminaries with high pressure sodium lamps connected through electromagnetic ballasts were used as sources of light. When choosing the conductor cross section of light lines a number of simplifications are commonly used. Attention is paid to the choice of sections without such assumptions: the inductive resistance of conductors is taken into account; the power of the luminaire depends on the voltage level in it. Luminaries with high pressure sodium lamps are the sources of high harmonics. Three variants of calculation are demonstrated depending on the accounting (or non-accounting) of high odd harmonics. The methods of calculating the mode of the lighting line are also presented in the article. The calculation is performed with the aid of Mathcad software. Operating parameters for each phase of the line (i.e. voltage in the items of the scheme, power, currents, power, and voltage losses in all the sections) were determined. The diagrams of the voltage distribution at items of the lighting line for three variants of calculation are plotted for various sections of aluminum conductors. On this basis the choice of the optimum magnitude of the conductor cross section of the lighting line was made. The obtained results of different calculation variants are compared. The comparison of the results obtained with the use of various methods of calculation was made. The impact of high harmonics on the operating mode of the line under consideration has been analyzed. The presence of high harmonics causes an increase of voltage losses, the distortion of sinusoidal voltage. The current of neutral conductor is comparable with the current of phase conductors, besides, the harmonics multiple of 3 are of great importance as they influence on the magnitude of the current.

A new porous cooling system in which the coolant supply is produced by the combined action of capillary and gravitational forces is proposed and studied for various technical devices and systems developed by the authors. The cooling surface is made of stainless steel, brass, copper, bronze, nickel, glass and alundum. The wall thickness is (0.05–2.00) ∙ 10⁻³m. Visual observations were carried out by using high-speed camera filming with the use of SCS-1M. Experiments were carried out with water at pressures ranging between 0.01–10.00 MPa, under-heating to 0–20 K, excess liquid of 1–14 of steam flow, thermal load of (1–60) ∙ 10⁴  W/m², temperature pressure of 1–60 K and the system orientation of ±(0–90) degrees. Studies carried out on a model plant has identified two areas of the process of vaporization of the liquid and an influence of operating and design characteristics. The optimal coolant flow and the most effective form of reticulated porous structure are identified. Visual observations have made it possible to describe the physical picture of the processes and to generalize experimental data on the removed heat flows with an accuracy of ±20 % depending on the thermophysical properties of the fluid, wall, temperature difference, excess fluid, porous structures and heat exchange interface.

On the basis of the gas compressor units of compressor plants of a main gas pipeline mathematical models of the macro-level were generated for analysis and parametric optimization of combined energy-and-technology units. In continuation of the study these models was applied to obtain the regression dependencies. For this purpose, a numerical experiment was used which had been designed with the use of regression analysis mathematical tool, which assumes that the test results should represent independent, normally distributed, random variables with approximately equal variance. Herewith we study the dependence of the optimization criterion on the value of control parameters (factors). Planning, conducting and processing of results of the experiment was conducted in the following sequence: choice of the optimization criteria, selection of control parameters (factors), encoding factors, the matrix of experiment compiling, assessing significance of regression coefficients, testing the adequacy of the model and reproducibility of the experiments. As the optimization criteria the electricity capacity and efficiency of combined energy-technology units were adopted. As control parameters for the installation with a gas-expansion-and-generator machine the temperature of the fuel gas before the expander, the pressure of the fuel gas after the expander and the temperature of the air supplied to the compressor of the engine were adopted, while for the steam turbine the adopted optimization criteria were compression in the compressor of the engine, the steam consumption for the technology and the temperature of the air supplied to the compressor of the engine. The application of the outlined methodological approach makes it possible to obtain a simple polynomial dependence, which significantly simplify the procedures of analysis, parametric optimization and evaluation of efficiency in the feasibility studies of the options of construction of the energy facilities.