Sharif Digital Repository

This paper deals with the problem of scheduling bus maintenance activities. The scheduling of maintenance activities is an important component in bus transit operations planning process. The other components include network route design, setting timetables, scheduling vehicles, and assignment of drivers. This paper presents a mathematical programming approach to the problem. This approach takes as input a given daily operating schedule for all buses assigned to a depot along with available maintenance resources. It, then, attempts to design daily inspection and maintenance schedules for the buses that are due for inspection so as to minimize the interruptions in the daily bus operating... 

To attain an ongoing electricity economy, developing novel widespread electricity supply systems based on diverse energy resources are critically important. Several photovoltaic (PV) technologies exist, which cause various pathways to produce electricity from solar energy. This paper evaluates the competition between three influential solar technologies based on photovoltaic technique to find the optimal pathways for satisfying the electricity demand: (1) multicrystalline silicon; (2) copper, indium, gallium, and selenium (CIGS); and (3) multijunction. Besides the technical factors, there are other effective parameters such as cost, operability, feasibility, and capacity that should be... 

In restructured and de-regulated power systems, generating companies (Gencos) are responsible for supplying electricity for both energy and reserve markets, which usually operate simultaneously. In this condition, the question is how much and for what price must each Genco generate for each market to maximize its profit, so this paper intends to answer to this question. In this paper, first, the combined energy and reserve markets are considered, and the Nash equilibrium points are determined. Then, the bidding strategies for each Genco at these points will be presented. The bids for the energy and 10 min spinning reserve (TMSR) markets are separated in the second stage, and again, the... 

In an acceptance-sampling plan, where items of an incoming batch of products are inspected one by one, if the number of conforming items between successive non conforming items falls below a lower control threshold, the batch is rejected. If it falls above an upper control threshold, the batch is accepted, and if it lies within the thresholds then the process of inspecting the items continues. The purpose of this article is to develop an optimization model to determine the optimum values of the thresholds such that constraints on the probability of Type I and Type II errors are satisfied. This article starts by developing a Markovian model to derive the expected total cost of the inspection... 

The inclusion of smart grid features such as demand response (DR) and network automation for capacity planning of substation transformers may provide substantial monetary savings. This paper proposes an optimization model for quantification of the savings in capacity management of substation transformers over long-run. The proposed model incorporates the DR as a resource to decrease the outage cost during contingencies while considering existing switching types for load transfer between substations. The model provides optimal selection and scheduling of multistage transformer installations and their refurbishments by considering all the costs associated with them including investment,... 

Both frequency and intensity of natural disasters have intensified in recent years. It is, therefore, essential to design effective strategies to minimize their catastrophic consequences. Optimizing recovery tasks, including distribution system reconfiguration (DSR) and repair sequence optimization (RSO), are the key to enhance the agility of disaster recovery. This article aims to develop a resilience-oriented DSR and RSO optimization model and a mechanism to quantify the recovery agility. In doing so, a new metric is developed to quantify the recovery agility and to identify the optimal resilience enhancement strategies. The metric is defined as 'the number of recovered customers divided... 

With proliferation of single-phase rooftop photovoltaic (PV) panels, phase balancing in low voltage (LV) distribution feeders becomes the point of concern. In this way, identification of the hosting phase of connected single-phase customers and PV panels is a prerequisite. This paper proposes an optimization model for the phase identification problem. The objective is to minimize the summation of the absolute error between estimated and measured variables. Smart meters (SMs) data including active and reactive power absorptions/injections, nodal voltage magnitudes, and network configuration data form the input of the model. Potential errors in the input data are captured in the model while... 

Flood control as an important purpose of reservoir systems faces a wide range of natural, social and political challenges, mainly due to different uncertainties. Over the time, these uncertainties call for necessary changes in the original plan of the systems. Therefore, construction of new flood control systems as well as the storage reallocation and reservoir reoperation of existing ones are essential for adapting the systems to new information, conditions and policies. Furthermore, multipurpose nature of the multi-reservoir systems requires considering conflicts among various purposes. In this paper, a multiobjective optimization model is developed for analyzing such conflicts in a... 

Combined cooling, heat, and power (CCHP) system offers numerous potential advantages for the supply of energy to residential buildings in the sense of improved energy efficiency and reduced environmental burdens. To realize the potential for being more beneficial, however, such systems must reduce total costs relative to conventional systems. In this study, a linear programming optimization model was presented for optimum planning and sizing of CCHP systems. The purpose of the model is to give the design of the CCHP system by considering electrical chiller and absorption chiller simultaneously in economic viewpoint. A numerical study was conducted in Tehran to evaluate the CCHP system model.... 

The integration of high-voltage direct-current (dc) transmission lines in conventional alternating-current (ac) systems would affect the indirect measurement of phasor measurement unit (PMU) devices since the concept of phasors would not correspond to dc transmission circuits. The optimal PMU placement problem in ac/dc systems subjected to the system observability is presented in this paper by applying a mixed-integer programming model. In practice, the cost of each PMU is variable as a function of PMU measurement channels. This attribute is incorporated in the proposed model as well. In addition, the number of PMU measurement channels is deemed to be technically limited; thus, the common... 

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has long been known as one of the most anonymous reasons for death around the world. A presentation of a model of what happens in the process has been under study for many years; and yet it remains a question due to physiological, geometrical and computational complications. Although the facilities for soft tissue modeling have improved and the precise CT-imaging of human head has revealed novel details of brain, skull and the interface (the meninges), a comprehensive FEM model of TBI is still being studied. This study aims to present an optimized model of human head including the brain, skull, and the meninges after a comprehensive study of the previous models.... 

We consider coordination by contract in a divergent supply chain including one manufacturer and several retailers which produces fashion products with short sale seasons. The retailers cooperate with the manufacturer as sales agents; i.e., they work in the framework of revenue sharing contracts. Because of their proximity to the market, retailers can provide more accurate demand forecast for the manufacturer when he wants to decide on his capacity building (expansion), product assignment decision and market prices with regard to retailers stiff due date, different lead times and different price-dependent demand functions. To ensure abundant supply and increase their sales, the retailers have... 

The penetration of wind generation in distribution networks is steadily increasing and may provide ample business opportunities for aggregators. While, residential demand response (DR) has proven to be a feasible economic tool in smart grids, the quantitative evaluation of various aggregator-based DR services is required to tap the maximum benefits from the DR flexibility. This paper provides an overview of benefits of different DR aggregator services such as minimization of energy cost and wind curtailment given the scenario of large wind generation hosted by distribution network. An optimization model is formulated from aggregator perspective to manage the population of heating,... 

The integration of a great deal of intermittent renewable generation in future grids will require more operational flexibility. Residential demand response can provide the load shaping potentials thereby alleviating the need for operational flexibility. This paper intends to develop a centralized framework focusing on realization of domestic heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) demand response capability for wind power balancing. In the proposed optimization model, energy consumption of HVAC loads is optimized to tackle the variability of wind power. The thermal comfort penalty is explicitly integrated in the objective function in order to oblige different customers' thermal... 

The management of transformers' capacity is a vital task for planners and asset managers due to their high cost. This paper proposes an optimization model for capacity management of transformers in a substation over long-run. The model considers the present worth costs of investment, losses, maintenance, reliability, and the salvage value of transformers for providing the optimal selection and scheduling of multistage transformer installations and their refurbishments. In the optimization model, growing failure rate of transformers along with their age is incorporated and the cumulative loss-of-life (LOL) of transformers is also used in determining their salvage value. The developed model is... 

Fault indicator (FI) plays a crucial rule in enhancing service reliability in distribution systems. This device brings substantial benefits for fault management procedure by speeding up fault location procedure. This paper intends to develop a new optimization model to optimally deploy FI in distribution systems. The proposed model aims to consider a tradeoff between the total customer interruption cost and FI relevant costs, including capital investment, installation, and maintenance costs. As the main contribution of this paper, the problem is formulated in mixed integer programing, which guarantees global optimum solution achieved in an effective runtime. Moreover, the model takes... 

To more clearly show the abilities of multi-energy carrier systems in managing different energy demands, this paper investigates optimal scheduling of an energy hub in presence of price-based demand response (DR) programs. In this regard, the mathematical model of different energy converters and storage units including combined heat and power (CHP), electrical storage, heat storage and ice storage are extracted. Then, time-of-use (TOU) electrical energy price is set in such a way to reach lower demand in peak hours. Extracting the optimization model of energy scheduling for an energy hub in presence of TOU DR program, the proposed algorithm is implemented on a typical energy hub and the...