An Optimized Filter Design with Cuckoo

Search Algorithm for Industrial Microgrids

Sreeramulu Mahesh G1*, Chandrashekar M.J2†, Muni Sankar A3† and N M G
Kumar 4†
1
*Electrical and Electronics Engineering, GSSSIETW, K.R.S Road, Mysuru, 570016,
Karnataka, India.
2
Electrical and Electronics Engineering, SJB Institute of Technology, Bangalore,
560060, Karnataka, India.
3
Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Sree Rama Engineering College, Tirupati,
517507, Andhara Pradesh, India.
4
Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Sree Vidyanikethan Engineering College,
Mohan Babu University, Tirupati, 517102, Andhara Pradesh, India.

*Corresponding author(s). E-mail(s): gs.mahesh01@gmail.com

Contributing authors: shekarmeuvce@gmail.com, munisankar.eee@gmail.com,
nmgkumar@gmail.com
†These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract
Most of the IT industries with microgrids are facing the impacts of harmonics on
lighting loads, UPS, Elevators and Air Handling Units with Variable Frequency Drives
offers different harmonic frequencies, thus reduces the equipment performance and
its life cycle. Many passive filters like single tuned filter, double tuned filter or
combination of both single and double tuned filters etc.., are implemented
practically in the industries. It requires a careful tuning, otherwise, the resonance
problems will arouse in the entire microgrid and leads to instability between the
generation and loads, thus the design of an optimized passive filter is still a
challenging problem for mitigating the harmonics. The Cuckoo Search Algorithm is
proposed in this paper to design the passive harmonic filter to reduce the Total
Harmonic Distortion and size of the filter, which provides better tuning than the
manual tuning. This algorithm performed on real time data from an IT industry with
Fluke analyzer and the filter design is carried out on AHU, UPS and lighting loads
using MATLAB simulation software and desired waveforms are presented.

Keywords: Passive filter, Optimization, Cuckoo Search Algorithm, Total

Harmonic Distortion, Microgrids

1 Introduction
Most of the industries with microgrids aims in the distributed automation with in
system to improve the quality of service, reduce the operating cost and increases
the efficient use of energy and fast operation to the changing the energy
environment. Such industries uses Adjustable Speed Drives (ASD) and Variable
Frequency Drives (VFD) or Variable Voltage Variable Frequency Drives (VVVFD) for
controlling Air Handling Units (AHU) with Building Management Systems (BMS) as
specified in American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning
Engineers (ASHRAE) 135-2016, a Data Communication Protocol for Building
Automation and Control Networks (BACnet Standard), however, these drives are
the sources of harmonics, which affects the system performance.

The industry has the automated control of VVVFDs through automated Building
Management Systems, thus the frequency of motor operation depends upon the
load in the work place, ambient temperature and set points. The modern day
buildings are built with the support of BMS to accomplish the maintenance and save
energy, through the communication protocols for the purpose of monitoring and or
control. The BMS has excellent features like monitoring and controlling the
equipment, status of data equipment, scheduling loads and provides the Graphical
User Interface (GUI) for the easy access to the operator.

Due to the variations in the temperature, the set points will vary in AHU and leads
to variation of speed in VVVFDs, it is worth noting that in AHU based VFDs, the
power is proportional to Speed3, in addition, the energy saving strategies are more
significant, if the air volume is controlled with motor speed. The Figure 1 shows the
basic structure of VVVFD, AHU and loads associated with controllers. While

Fig. 1 VVVFD with Air Handling Unit

controlling the set points at various speeds, it would generate the harmonic
frequencies in the supply current and increases the temperature in the wingdings of
the motor, thus affects the performance of the drive. While the controlling of speed
of the drive, the voltage at the terminals of the load is varied and the power
consumption is varied. In the past many harmonic filters are designed to mitigate
or reduce the %THD, since they are simple and inexpensive in design. Some of the
passive filters like single tuned filters, double tuned filters, C-type filters and
combination of single and double tuned filters are used in parallel to the loads. The
single tuned filters will mitigate only the single dominant harmonic frequency,
where as the double tuned filter will remove any two dominant harmonic
frequencies with careful tuning. However, the voltage deviation and peak voltage
change due to distortion are analyzed and it is realized that the filter capacitor
charging and discharging varies from cycle to cycle and results to fluctuation of the
regulator and maloperation of the equipment. Therefore to reduce the voltage
fluctuations, %THD and size of the filter, an optimized filter design is very much
necessary, this ensures the performance of the equipment and reduces the energy
cost as per IEEE recommendations [1–3].

Most of the meta heuristic algorithms are based on the social deterministic rules
and randomness, behavior of the animal or insect groups, that imitate in the
nature. Most common practical problems from technical and non technical fields are
iterative, complex, discontinuous, multi-modal problems are solved with simple
initialization and calculations of meta heuristic algorithms. Some of the meta
heuristic algorithms are Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) [4], Genetic Algorithm
(GA) [5], Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) [6–10], Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) [11]
and Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) [12].

Methods
The analysis of harmonics are important on the power system and on the
equipment is needed to improve the voltage profile and enhances the life span of
the equipment. The proposed Cuckoo Search Algorithm (CSA) is used
to design the passive filter for the AHU based loads, UPS and
Lighting loads, which is found to effective and simple. The
harmonic data is captured from a AHU load with Fluke analyzer
and processed the waveforms in MATLAB software for the
analysis.

2 Design of Passive Harmonic Filter

A passive harmonic filter is a combination of reactors, capacitors and resistors

which provide an alternative path for harmonic currents, dampens the harmonic
impedance and improves the power factor of the load. The design of the passive
filet as follows:
Design steps for tuned filter

(i) Identify the capacitor size Qc in MVAr and the reactive power requirement of the
harmonic source.
(ii) The capacitance reactance is:
𝑘𝑉 2
𝑥𝑐 = (1)
𝑐𝑄

(iii) To filter the hn harmonic, the inductive reactance should have a value of
 xc
xL = (2)
Hn

(iv) The resistance is calculated as

xn
R= (3)
Q

The characteristic reactance is given by

𝑥𝑛= 𝑥𝐿𝑛= 𝑥𝑐𝑛 = 𝑥𝐿 𝑥𝑐 (4)

Where R is the resistance of the tuned filter,

XC is the reactance of the capacitance,
XL is the reactance of the inductance,
H is the harmonic frequency,
n is the harmonic order.

Filter size is then from equation (2) can be

𝑘𝑉 2 𝑘𝑉 2
𝑄𝐹𝑖𝑙𝑡𝑒𝑟 = = x
(𝑥𝐿 − 𝑥𝑐 )2 ( c − 𝑥𝑐 )2
Hn
Hn 2
𝑄𝐹𝑖𝑙𝑡𝑒𝑟 = (5)
(H n 2 −1)𝑄 2

In a series-tuned passive filter, the expression of impedance at any harmonic

frequency h becomes

xc
𝑍𝐹𝐻 = 𝑅 + 𝑗(Hn 𝑥𝐿 − ) (6)
Hn

xc 2
𝑍𝐹𝐻 = 𝑅 2 + (Hn 𝑥𝐿 − ) (7)
Hn

3 System Specifications

The electrical system is undergoing significant changes due to increased use of

electrical drives to maintain the temperature in the desired limits for the
semiconductor processors or controllers. In such industries, the distributed
automation with in system need to improve the quality of service, reduce the
operating costs and increase the efficient use of energy and fast operation to the
changing in energy environment.
The data from AHU is bought from the leading IT industry, where more than 30 Air
Handling Units (AHU) are installed with Variable Voltage Variable Frequency Drive
(VVVFD) to optimally control the space temperature as per the ASHRAE standards.
The AHU selected was supporting office area and was operational for about 10 hrs
per day normally. The industry has the automated control of VVVFD’s through
automated BMS system. Thus the frequency of motor operation depends upon the
load in the floor, ambient temperature and set points. VVVFD used for this case
study is of ABB make. ACS 400 AC Drives for Speed Control of 3 to 50 HP (2.2 to
37 kW) AC Induction Motors with a 6-pulse VFD. The most common rectifier circuit
in three-phase PWM drives, 6-pulse VFD uses six-pulse diode rectifier. A 6-pulse
rectifier is the most robust and cost effective solution. The main drawback is the
input current contains some amount of low order harmonics.

3.1 Harmonic Measurement and Analysis of IM with load

Under normal loading condition, the measurement of Harmonics, Interharmonics

and the behavior of VVVFD are considered for the analysis. There are six operating
frequencies are presented and measurements are noted using Fluke Power Analyzer
1750.
(i) Case 1 : VVVFD operating @ 25 Hz
(ii) Case 2 : VVVFD operating @ 30 Hz
(iii) Case 3 : VVVFD operating @ 35 Hz
(iv) Case 4 : VVVFD operating @ 40 Hz
(v) Case 5 : VVVFD operating @ 45 Hz
(vi) Case 6 : VVVFD operating @ 50 Hz

3.2 Case 3: Frequency set @ 35Hz

The VVVFD is operated at 35Hz and the current waveforms are shown in Figure. 2
and is obtained from Harmonic analyzer shows that the %ITHD is approximately
53.2%. In this case study, the VVVFD is operated at 35Hz, the overall %ITHD is
said to be 53.2% and the system demands 1.449kW, which is higher than the
previous operating frequency of 30Hz. The pressure in the air duct is slightly lesser
than the previous case, since the room temperature reduced. This value of pressure
difference is fed to the controller of VVVFD, thus increases the speed of the motor
and hence the amount of air supplied to the area.
 Fig. 2 Current waveforms at 35Hz operation on RYB phases

Table 1 : %ITHD and System Demand at various frequencies

Frequency (Hz) %ITHD System Demand (kW)

25 101 0.582
30 86 0.943
35 53.2 1.449
40 60.3 2.108
45 36.4 3.05
50 39.7 4.03

The Table 1 shows the harmonic and system demand at various operating
frequencies of VVVFD. As the frequency increases, the demand increases linearly
and the %ITHD decreases. When the VVVFD is operated at 35 Hz of frequency the
dominating harmonic is 5th harmonic, which is 65%. The system parameters are
shown in Table 2 at 35 Hz operating frequency.

Table 2: Harmonic Analyzer Meter parameters at 35Hz operation

Voltage AB BC CA
V RMS 234 232.3 233.7
V PK 355 351.6 354.1
V CF 1.5 1.5 1.5
% THD 3.5 3.5 3.5
Freq 50
 Current A B C
A RMS 7.4 7.2 7.5
A PK 14.8 13.7 14.8
A CF 2 1.9 2
%THD 53.2 59 55.1
%TDD – – –
K 11.8 13.7 12.4
Factor
Power A B C
kw 1.499 1.419 1.512
kva 1.73 1.679 1.76
kvar 0.864 0.898 0.901
PF 0.866 0.845 0.859
DPF 0.999 0.996 0.995
– Lag Lag

4 Cuckoo Search Algorithm (CSA)

The Cuckoo Search algorithm is a meta-heuristic optimization algorithm, used
for solving optimization problems. This algorithm is based on the some cuckoo
species, with Levy flights random walks [13]. The evolution process of CSA
follows :
(i) Levy Flight (generate new solutions)
(ii) Replace with updated (new) solutions
(iii) Greedy selection strategy

4.1 Levy Flight

It is used to generate a new candidate solution by perturbing the new current
candidate with
𝑋𝑛𝑒𝑤 = 𝑋 + 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑 ∙ 𝐶 (8)
where C is the change of position

𝐶 = 0.01 ∙ 𝑆 ∙ (𝑋 − 𝑋𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 ) (9)

where S is the random step length by a symmetric Levy distribution as

𝑈
𝑆= 1 (10)
𝑉𝛽
where u,v are generated using normal distribution and 𝛽 = 1.5

4.2 Replace with updated (new) solutions

The host Cuckoo bird can throw the egg away/abandon the nest ( with a fraction pa
∈ [0, 1] and builds a new nest (new solution). The new solution is generated as
follows:
1. Choose a random number ∈(0,1)

2 if r < pa, then

 X is selected and modified

3 Xnew = X + rand · (Xd1 − Xd1)

where d1 and d2 are the random population from 1 to N.

Algorithm 1 Cuckoo Search Algorithm

i. 1: Input parameters
ii. 2: State the objective function (f)
iii. 3: Generate the initial population (N)
iv. 4: Levy Flights
v. Generate new solutions Check bounds
vi. Perform Greedy solution
vii. 5: Replace the worst nests with probability pa
viii. Generate new solutions Check bounds
ix. Perform Greedy solution
x. 6: Store the best solution
xi. 7: Plot the results

4.3 Greedy Selection

The Greedy selection strategy is adopted with minimization/maximization values of
the objective function.
5 Objective function
The objective function is evaluated based on passive filter characteristics and
performance, thus depends on the %THD and Quality factor [14]. From the
literature survey, the objective function is expressed as:
𝑇𝐻𝐷𝐼 𝑄𝑓
𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑧𝑒, 𝐹 = 𝜔1 + 𝜔2 (11)
𝑇𝐻𝐷𝐵𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑄𝑚𝑎𝑥

where THDI and Qf are the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) and Quality factor to
represent filter size respectively. ω1 and ω2 are the coefficients objective function.
THD(Base) is the base THD and QMax is the size of maximum filter installed.

The %THD is expressed as follows:

100 2
%𝑇𝐻𝐷 = 𝐻
ℎ 𝐼𝑖ℎ (12)
𝐼𝑖1

where h is the Harmonic order and I1 i is the Fundamental RMS current. The
filter size is written as:
 𝑘𝑉 2
𝑄𝐹𝑖𝑙𝑡𝑒𝑟 = (13)
(𝑥 𝐿 −𝑥 𝑐 )2

The accommodation between the filter size is much less important than the THD
reduction, however, to improve the voltage characteristics, the coefficient values of
equation (11) of the objective function are defined as ω1=65% and ω2=35%.

6 Results and Discussion

The VVVFD is connected to the AHU, operated in the auto mode with a feedback
system and the working temperature is to be maintained with a the space of (23.5
± 0.5) ℃ VVVFD is normally operated at 33 Hz to 37 Hz. Induction motor will have
the cooling fan connected to the shaft of the rotor and the fan speed is directly
proportional to the speed of the motor. Hence if the frequency is reduced below 30
Hz, the speed of the motor will reduce substantially and it will impact the motor
internal temperature of the motor winding, so it is advised to operate the VVVFD
above 30 Hz. With the above analysis, it is found that the 5th harmonic component
of current harmonics generated by the VVVFD at 35Hz of operation and is reduced
by using a shunt connected single tune passive filter, the corresponding waveforms
are shown in Fig 3

Fig. 3: 5th harmonic component of Current waveform before and after the passive
filter process

6. Other Non-linear loads

The IT industry is associated with UPS, elevator and lighting loads, which are
non-linear in nature.
6.1 Uninterrupted Power Supply

The IT industry has 3×400 kVA UPS which is made of semiconductor devices, which
is highly non-linear in nature. The UPS is used to support the data center, servers
and other associated computed equipment. The %iTHD of the UPS is evaluated with
a fluke harmonic analyzer 1750 is 22.9%, with 5th harmonic frequency as dominant.
The corresponding waveforms are shown in the Figure. The %iTHD is reduced to
15.3% after applying the single tuned filter using CSA, the corresponding
waveforms are shown in Fig 4.

Fig. 4: UPS Phase A current, I (amp) and after filtering

6.2 Lighting Loads

The office building consists of 2ft FTL with electronic ballast lighting loads for better
visibility and security, which is highly non-linear in nature. The %iTHD of the
lighting loads is evaluated with a fluke harmonic analyzer 1750 is 31.8%, with 7th
harmonic frequency as dominant. The corresponding waveforms are shown in the
Figure. The %iTHD is reduced to 19.8% after applying the single tuned filter using
CSA, the corresponding waveforms are shown in Fig 5.

Fig. 5: Lighting A current, I (amp) Phase A and after filtering

7 Conclusions
When the VVVFD is connected to the AHU in auto mode, the operating frequencies
are 33 Hz to 37 Hz, the impacts of harmonics are noted. The CSA optimization is
effective in the designing of harmonic passive filter for the dominating harmonic
component 5th harmonic are reduced and simulated waveforms are shown. The
passive filters are also designed for the dominant 5th harmonic frequencies with UPS
and 7th harmonic frequencies in lighting loads are evaluated and corresponding
waveforms are shown.

List of Abbreviations

Adjustable Speed Drives ASD

Air Handing Unit AHU
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and ASHRAE
Air-Conditioning Engineers
Artificial Bee Colony ABC
Ant Colony Optimization ACO
Building Management Systems BMS
Building Automation and Control Networks BACnet
Cuckoo Search algorithm CSA
Genetic Algorithm GA
Grey Wolf Optimization GWO
Particle Swarm Optimization PSO
Total Harmonic Distortion THD
Variable Frequency Drives VFD
or Variable Voltage Variable Frequency Drives VVVFD

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