9522208 Butler The current research involves planning activities that will lead to a subsequent proposal for funding of the research to develop an incipient fault detection and predictive maintenance method for power distribution systems. The major objective of the planning activities is the development of the architectural framework for the incipient fault detection and prediction scheme. Also a scheme for predicting the useful remaining life of transformers will be developed. Then the appropriateness of extending this methodology to other distribution equipment will be shown. Also a thorough literature review of existing distribution predictive maintenance systems will be written. Mathematical techniques utilizing approximate and detailed models, expert systems and neural networks will be employed to develop the transformer remaining life prediction scheme. The development of this scheme is significant because transformer failure can be catastrophic and expensive. ***
