IN THE BRIEF SPAN of years since the closing days of World War II, we have witnessed a technological development in computers of such broad proportions that it is still impossible to appraise its far reaching effects adequately. Perhaps, the best way to express the enormous influence of this revolution is simply to point out that practically all of man's actions in producing the necessities and luxuries of life fall into two categories, namely his mental and his physical work. All of his mental work has to do with the processing of information in some form or other, and the close relationship of the computer to the human brain and its functioning needs no elaboration here. It should have been expected that nearly all of the operations of the civilized world, in which the human brain is involved to a greater or lesser extent in carrying out the task, could be aided by a technological development which performs accurately and at high speed, some of the functions of the brain. This is variously called computing, or information- or data-processing. Its field of application is as broad as human knowledge and is far beyond the comprehension of any one individual. However, large teams of scientists and engineers are currently at work in many of these compartmented fields of knowledge, learning how to adapt and develop the automatic processing methods of the computer to the needs of their particular fields.

This is the first of two articles outlining some of the significant developments in computing during the past year. Subjects discussed include computer developments, engineering applications, automatic programming, simulation, analog versus digital computers, computer uses in business, and control applications. Typical examples of progress in these areas are cited.

A method is presented for predetermining the economic dispatch of a steam-electric generating system including consideration of transmission losses. The equations of economic dispatch are solved for a range of values of delivered power cost to develop the dispatch curves. Novel features include an iterative method of solution which simplifies and shortens the work, and an interpretive study which shows how the single set of dispatch curves may be used to determine the economic dispatch with units out, and to determine the sale power cost at interconnections, and how it may be used for other similar extensions. The complete method for determination of the loss formula to determination and interpretation of the economic-dispatch curves is described using the Ohio Edison system as an example. The feasibility of holding tie power fixed at average values while determining the economic dispatch of generation is demonstrated for this system. The problem of selecting a proper reactive to real power ratio at generating stations is discussed and a solution proposed. This is part of a joint study1,2; which has been participated in by Commonwealth Associates, Inc., Consumers Power Company, Ohio Edison Company, Pennsylvania Power Company, and the Westinghouse Electric Corporation.

Methods are presented for determining the transient stability of systems of synchronous and induction machines. Treatment of the induction machine by its inertia and a voltage back of transient reactance makes possible its representation in stability studies by an a-c network calculator or digital computer. A digital-computer method for transient-stability studies is outlined, based on representation of the connecting power network by its admittance constants. Synchronous and induction machines are treated as in the a-c network calculator studies. The method is illustrated and its accuracy verified by application to a simple system having two synchronous machines, two induction motors, three fault busses, and two shunt loads. A complete derivation of the admittance method is included in the paper as well as accuracy criteria for the admittance constants.

Losses associated with sale power are determined from a family of charts, constructed as described in the paper. The losses are given as a function of total system load, power over the interconnections, and amount of sale power from each generating station. The simplifying approximations used are: 1. Reduction of the transmission system to a simplified equivalent without internal loops. 2. Current equal to power in per cent of base. 3. Fixed distribution through the tie lines of sale power from a given generating station. 4. Fixed dispatch of system load. These approximations may be modified. The method has been in use by Commonwealth Associates, Inc., for a number of years and is applicable to systems where these approximations are valid. The advantages of the in-phase method are: 1. The simplicity and directness with which incremental losses associated with sale power can be determined. 2. The flexibility in determining losses for a wide variety of system load and sale conditions. 3. No computer is required either in the preparation or use of the charts. This paper describes one phase of a joint study of loss evaluation conducted by Commonwealth Associates, Inc., the Consumers Power Company, and the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Current- and powerform loss formulas are described in a companion paper.1

Article Free Access Share on Some engineering problems requiring automatic computation Author: E. L. Harder Westinghouse Electric Corp. Westinghouse Electric Corp.View Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM '52: Proceedings of the 1952 ACM national meeting (Pittsburgh)May 1952 Pages 85–90https://doi.org/10.1145/609784.609792Online:02 May 1952Publication History 0citation181DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations0Total Downloads181Last 12 Months4Last 6 weeks1 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

The paper outlinies the direct-analog approach used on the Anacom and describes the sigma amplifier which combines adding, integrating, delay, and other operations into a single computer amplifier and results in an improved computing technique. Examples include a speed-regulating system, and systems of simultaneous differential equations such as the aerodynamic equations of flight of an airplane. An adjustable nonlinear resistor and other functional devices are described, together with their use in analogs of fluid flow, saturating iron cores, magnetic amplifiers, and hysteresis. An analog for corona is given.

A method for estimating the lightning performance of transmission lines is presented in this article. It is based on the stroke current probability data and takes into account all the line parameters believed to affect the performance materially. The curves cover the complete range of transmission line designs.

The rapid growth in power system size and interconnection over the past 30 years has greatly increased the problem of isolating faults. Standards of service have increased, making necessary greater reliability, and higher speed of operation. Innumerable relaying devices and schemes have been developed to meet the more exacting requirements. Some have been designed for special situations and others apply to basic situations which occur on many systems. It is these latter which it is hoped to discuss in this paper.