A probabilistic approach for power cable cross section area selection: Most economic design by computer aided

This study presents a practical computer-based design program for a power cable network called “Power Cables Graphical User Interface” (PCGUI). This program is mainly for academic education, consulting electrical designers, primary engineers, and technical personnel with open-source code and a simple user interface. As a low/medium-voltage cable selection program, PCGUI will represent an essential part of the design for any electrical system, including different and complex analytic procedures based on various international standards (“IEEE, IEC, BS, NEC, NPFA 70, and local applied country standards.”). A MATLAB PCGUI program gives a new method to analyze and identify the optimized cable design depending on huge numbers of MATLAB script files and data appropriate for different factors and conditions. These factors and conditions include the type of insulation, temperature factor, grouping factor, accepted voltage drop, cable lifetime costs, etc. PCGUI is easily accomplished with the least effort and provides a fast and economical design with very high accuracy through limited manual input steps. After executing the program, the obtained results will contain the complete economic cable design, the circuit breaker standard rating and type, the actual cable current loading, the actual voltage drop, and the primary and the most economic cable cross-section area “CSA” based on the cost analysis.