Optimal placement and sizing of harmonic filters aboard an electric propulsion ship

An optimisation technique using simulated annealing is described, in order to find the best placement of the harmonic filters to be installed in a distribution system with their minimum power size. The filtering currents are then calculated not to cancel the resulting harmonic voltages but to reduce their values with respect to the fixed limits. The objective is to minimise the power size in view of maximum savings in the equipment cost. The aboard power system of an electric propulsion ship with a great number of nonlinear loads is analysed in order to illustrate the efficiency of the optimisation method.