A Multi-Objective Optimization Strategy for Minimizing Line Current and Preventing Cable Overloading in Variable-Frequency-Drive-Fed Industrial Motor Systems

Ilham Setiyoko, Warindi Warindi

Abstract

Variable frequency drives are widely used in industrial motor systems to reduce energy consumption and provide precise speed control. However, improper drive parameter settings can cause elevated harmonic distortion, excessive peak line currents, and thermal overloading of supply cables—risks that are frequently underestimated in industrial electrical design. This paper proposes a structured multi-objective optimization framework for drive parameter tuning that simultaneously minimizes line current, active power consumption, and total harmonic distortion (THD), while enforcing hard constraints on cable ampacity and harmonic limits per IEEE 519-2022. The decision variables include the voltage-per-hertz ratio slope, switching frequency, acceleration and deceleration ramp times, output current limit, and target power factor. Constraint violations are handled through an exterior penalty function with large penalty coefficients that steers the search away from infeasible regions. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) with 50 particles and a linearly decreasing inertia weight is used as the search algorithm, interfaced with a MATLAB/Simulink model built with Simscape Electrical components. To address the sensitivity of the weighted-sum formulation, a weight-variation analysis is reported that traces the trade-off between cable-current safety, energy efficiency, and harmonic compliance. Simulation results show that the optimized configuration reduces the effective RMS cable current from 147.3 A to 121.4 A (12.4% below the derated ampacity limit), lowers THD from 8.7% to 4.1% (compliant with IEEE 519-2022), and reduces peak line current by 36.5%, with total active power reduced by 4.8%. These results indicate that the proposed framework is a useful tool for safer and more energy-efficient commissioning of drive-fed industrial motor systems.

Keywords

Variable Frequency Drive; Particle Swarm Optimization; cable ampacity; harmonic distortion; penalty function; multi-objective optimization; MATLAB/Simulink

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References

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.20961/jeeict.8.2.121471

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