Minimization of monitoring locations for detection of flicker sources by the direction of propagation method

Flicker is one of the main indexes in power quality. With increasing of the modern consumers requirements and industrial units that use sensitive loads, the need of high quality power that cover the power quality standards is very essential. In this paper, an algorithm for flicker sources detection is presented by simulating of flicker sources such as arc furnace in PSCAD/EMTD. Using this algorithm, detection of the flicker sources is possible by installing the smallest number of monitoring equipments. Location and number of monitoring equipments are found in two stages by this algorithm. A method is also proposed to determine the flicker power propagation in the power network. In addition, to detect the flicker loads, a flicker meter is simulated according to IEC-868 standard and located in the positions which are determined by the algorithm. Finally, the flicker loads can be detected at any time by using a written program in Mfile/MATLAB. The simulation results show the capability of the proposed methods.