Search Results (3)

This study concerns problems related to the assessment of reactive power in power networks with nonlinear fast-varying loads, such as electric arc furnaces, rolling mill drives, etc. The operation of this type of load is characterized by the introduction of interharmonic currents (including higher harmonics) into the power supply network and a relatively low power factor. Rapid changes in the RMS value of the current also cause voltage fluctuations and the related phenomenon of light-flickering. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the power selection of compensating devices, taking into account the random nature of load changes and the distortion of current and voltage waveforms, in particular, interharmonic components, the impact of which has not been fully investigated so far. To analyze the random nature of load changes, autocorrelation functions were used, which allowed for the estimation of the expected values of the arc furnace current distortion coefficient (based on the recorded waveforms). In order to determine the parameters of reactive power compensating devices, and in particular capacitor banks, an autocorrelation function in the exponential-cosine-sine form was used, which meets the conditions of differentiation. This study contains comparative results of the reactive power of capacitor banks determined using different methods. The criterion for selecting capacitor bank parameters was the minimization of energy losses in the power supply network. The calculations presented in this study show that by taking into account higher harmonics and interharmonics in the voltage and currents of fast-varying loads, the installed power of the capacitor bank can be reduced by approximately 7%, and energy losses in the power grid can be reduced by 3–5%. Full article

The uneven load of the electric drive of sucker-rod pumping units causes an increase in the consumption of reactive power, which requires compensation. This article discusses the issue of calculating the processes in sucker-rod pumping units in the case of individual compensation of the reactive power. Mathematical models for calculating the process of changing the capacity of cosine capacitors for reactive power compensation in the starting and steady-state modes of the electric drive of the sucker-rod pumping unit, which are characterized by the periodically varying load and moment of inertia, have been developed. The calculation is based on a mathematical model of the induction motor that takes into account the saturation of the magnetic path and the skin effect in the bars of the deep-bar rotor. The created mathematical model can be used to regulate the capacitance of the capacitors connected to the induction motor in order to reduce the reactive power consumption. Full article

In this paper, an improved hybridization of an evolutionary algorithm, named permutated oppositional differential evolution sine cosine algorithm (PODESCA) and also a sensitivity-based decision-making technique (SBDMT) are proposed to tackle the optimal planning of shunt capacitors (OPSC) problem in different-scale radial distribution systems (RDSs). The evolved PODESCA uniquely utilizes the mechanisms of differential evolution (DE) and an enhanced sine–cosine algorithm (SCA) to constitute the algorithm’s main structure. In addition, quasi-oppositional technique (QOT) is applied at the initialization stage to generate the initial population, and also inside the main loop. PODESCA is implemented to solve the OPSC problem, where the objective is to minimize the system’s total cost with the presence of capacitors subject to different operational constraints. Moreover, SBDMT is developed by using a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach; namely the technique for the order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). By applying this approach, four sensitivity-based indices (SBIs) are set as inputs of TOPSIS, whereas the output is the highest potential buses for SC placement. Consequently, the OPSC problem’s search space is extensively and effectively reduced. Hence, based on the reduced search space, PODESCA is reimplemented on the OPSC problem, and the obtained results with and without reducing the search space by the proposed SBDMT are then compared. For further validation of the proposed methods, three RDSs are used, and then the results are compared with different methods from the literature. The performed comparisons demonstrate that the proposed methods overcome several previous methods and they are recommended as effective and robust techniques for solving the OPSC problem. Full article