Harmonic Source Location and Identification in Radial Distribution Feeders: An Approach Based on Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm

The location and identification of harmonic sources in radial distribution feeders are essential tasks since they improve the power quality monitoring and assist in mitigating issues resulting from harmonic distortions. Thus, this article presents an approach based on particle swarm optimization algorithm with adaptive and individual inertia, which was used to locate and estimate the parameters (harmonic magnitudes, real and reactive power) of the harmonic source with the highest contribution. The proposed approach needs only 20 cycles in steady state, considering the harmonic source pre- and postconnection as input data. In addition, this approach uses few meters to reduce the cost of investment. As a result, it was possible to locate the harmonic source, in the IEEE 34-bus test feeder, with absolute errors less than 1.78 km, using only 3 m. Moreover, the harmonic source identification algorithm reached mean percentage relative errors of less than 3.7%.