Investigation on the Factors Affecting the Temperature in Urban Distribution Substations and an Energy-Saving Cooling Strategy

Abstract: The different locations of the equipment in urban distribution substations (DSSs) and the location of inlet holes and outlet holes usually result in different ventilation effect, which means the power consumed by any ventilating devices present is different. In this paper the temperature field distribution in an urban distribution substation with different locations of the equipment in the substation was calculated first, then factors influencing the temperature field distribution were investigated, and the influence of the different factors was analyzed. When the distance between the apparatus and walls exceeds 3 m, the change of the temperature in the DSS is very small. Therefore considering the floor area of the DSS, 3 m is the best value of the distance between the apparatus. With the change of the environment temperature or the velocity of the ventilation fans, the maximum temperature in the DSS or apparatus will change. Hence an energy saving ventilation strategy is proposed in the paper, and an intelligent cooling control system is developed, which can modify the velocity of the ventilation fans according to the environment temperature, and thus realize energy savings.