AN EXAMPLE OF USING MICROSOFT EXCEL SOLVER FOR POWER NETWORK
1 University of Banja Luka, Department of Power Engineering, Patre 5, 78000 Banja Luka, Bosnia&Herzegovina, E-mail: cedomir@etfbl.net 2 University of Banja Luka, Department of Power Engineering, Patre 5, 78000 Banja Luka, Bosnia&Herzegovina, E-mail: bilchy@blic.net Abstract: Power-flow problems in electrical power networks have been investigated over the years and several calculation methods were introduced. In order to determine the work state of a power network, it is often necessary to solve a large system of non-linear transcendent equations. Therefore, the program routines are complex to develop, while specialized commercial software packages are expensive and not easily available. On the other hand, Microsoft Excel as a part of Microsoft Office software package is widely-spread in the world and relatively easily available. Excel possesses a plug-in named Solver which is a powerful tool for constrained optimization and solving of non-linear equations. Solver can be used in power network calculations for both practical and educational purposes. Solver is also applicable to the other problems concerning electrical theory and practice (circuit theory, electromagnetics, etc.).