Method for modeling a physical system of elements using a relational database

A computer-implemented method for determining an allocation of elements in a power system by modeling in an object-oriented relational database historical and predicted performances of particular elements in the power system, comprising:

• identifying the physical elements in the power system;
• storing in the relational database an object table that associate an object with each element of the physical system;
• storing in the relational database multiple type tables, each type table including instances of one of the objects in the database;
• storing in the relational database a grouping table that defines the relationships existing among the elements at the physical system;
• capturing historical performance data associated with the elements;
• linking the historical performance data through a data port to the computer;
• searching the relational database for a particular element;
• determining the historical performance of the particular element;
• changing a performance criterion of the particular element to a predicted performance criterion;
• modeling the predicted performance of the particular element at different locations in the power system;
• allocating the particular element to a particular location in the power system to satisfy the modeled predicted performance criterion;
• and
• updating the object table to reflect the allocation of elements in the power system.

A computer-implemented method for modeling a physical system using an object-oriented information model of the physical system, the information model being extendable by a user and implemented using a relational database using simple attributes that lack internal structure so that the relational database is accessible using standard relational database tools, the method comprising:

• storing in the relational database an object table that defines objects associated with elements of the physical system, the object table specifying attributes of each object including the object type, and the information model creating new objects of existing or new types in response to user input;
• storing in the relational database multiple type tables, each type table including entries representing instances of physical objects of the corresponding type, the information model creating type tables in response to the user creating new types of objects that are subclasses of objects defined in the object table and creating records in the type tables in response to users creating new objects of defined types;
• storing in the relational database a grouping table, the grouping table defining all the relationships among the elements of the physical system, the information model adding relationships to the grouping table in response to the user creating new objects and defining relationships in which new and existing objects participate, thereby allowing the user to query the database concerning relationships involving user-defined objects using without creating new query programs to handle those newly defined objects;
• and
• selectively accessing information stored in the relational database to perform operations involving objects in the physical system.