A genetic algorithm based approach to track voltage and current harmonics in electrical power systems

The presence of voltage and current waveform distortion is generally expressed in terms of harmonic frequencies. These distortions are not appreciated because they are responsible for equipment misoperation and damage. The potential harmonic effects on power equipment and system operation have become a concern for utilities. As a consequence, harmonics can no longer be ignored in industrial power. Therefore, precise harmonic identification is a very important task in order to eliminate these undesirable effects. This paper presents a novel approach to identifying harmonics in power system distorted waveforms. The proposed method is based on Genetic Algorithms, which is an optimization technique inspired by genetics and natural evolution. GOOAL, a specially designed intelligent algorithm for optimization problems, was successfully implemented and tested. Two kinds of representations concerning chromosomes were utilized: binary and real. The results obtained show that the proposed method is more precise than the traditional Fourier Transform, especially considering the real representation of the chromosomes.