Design Optimization of Electrical Busbars of Power Distribution System using Taguchi Method

The present article describes an approach for design optimization of the thermal performance of electrical busbars used in a unique box-less type power distribution system using DOE and computational simulation optimization technique. The goal of the considered approach is to define a real concurrent process for the design of reliable busbar systems for low voltage distribution application. There are several factors which are responsible for the thermal losses such as material properties, the magnitude of current, contact resistance and topological aspects etc. The objective of this study is to optimize the design parameters of novel distribution box and enhance its overall performance using the statistical method- Taguchi optimization technique and compared with the design parameters obtained using a computational algorithm. A model, containing all the requisite design factors such as sizes, material and electrical characteristic were created using FEM package of COMSOL Multiphysics and Minitab. The results of simulation are verified and validated experimentally in the laboratory.