Experimental Validation of Power Quality Improvement in the Domestic and Industrial Fan Load

Abstract

Power quality is not a big problem for low power motors and it becomes a problem in the places where multiple motors are in operation. In this paper, Genetic Algorithm is used to identify the best switching angles to eliminate selected harmonic in the output of the AC chopper. Load value is not mandatory to be known to calculate the switching angles are one of the main advantages of the proposed algorithm. Total Harmonic Distortion of output voltage is calculated from the obtained switching angles and embraced in the proposed fitness function. AC chopper with single phase induction motor model is developed in the MATLAB/SIMULINK environment. High quality output is derived due to the absence of low order harmonics. High efficiency is also achieved by the induction motor drive when it is operated with the proposed technique. Simulation results are validated through the designed prototype in which Genetic algorithm is implemented with the FPGA controller. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed technique is effective.