Selective harmonic elimination in VSI–fed induction motor drives using swarm and genetic optimisation

The paper presents non–traditional solutions to the problem of selective harmonic elimination (SHE) in induction motor drives fed by three–phase voltage–source inverter (VSI). The problem is independently solved using genetic algorithms (GA) and particle swarm optimisation (PSO). The inverter switching angles are determined such that the low–order harmonics up to the 17th are eliminated, while the fundamental component is set at a desired value. Findings of the research show that both routines could converge to accurate solutions. PSO outperforms GA in terms of the time of convergence and obtained value of the objective function, while GA is characterised with better robustness. The performance of the VSI–fed induction motor drive is studied under the SHE switching pattern. Results clearly show the merits of applying the SHE technique to the induction motor drive.

Keywords: selective harmonic elimination, voltage–source inverters, induction motor drives, particle swarm optimisation, PSO, genetic algorithms, VSI–fed induction motors