Minimizing harmonic voltage distortion with multiple current-constrained active power line conditioners

The purpose of this paper is to present a useful algorithm for minimizing harmonic voltage distortion levels with multiple current-constrained active power line conditioners (APLCs) in a power system. The algorithm contains a sensitivity analysis-based single-APLC placement procedure, and uses a nonlinear programming optimizer GRG2 to improve the solution if necessary. The usefulness of this algorithm is then illustrated by a distribution system example. Simulation results show that the algorithm is simple, computationally efficient and can be easily extended to minimize several other alternative harmonic-related network objective functions