Reconfiguration of distribution systems for loss reduction using the hyper-cube ant colony optimisation algorithm

This study introduces the ant colony optimisation (ACO) algorithm implemented in the hyper-cube (HC) framework to solve the distribution network minimum loss reconfiguration problem. The ACO is a relatively new and powerful intelligence evolution method for solving optimisation problems. It is a population-based approach inspired from natural behaviour of real ant colonies. In contrast to the usual ways of implementing ACO algorithms, the HC framework limits the pheromone values by introducing changes in the pheromone updating rules resulting in a more robust and easier to implement version of the ACO procedure. The optimisation problem is formulated taking into account the operational constraints of the distribution systems. Results of numerical tests carried out on three test systems from literature are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.