Adaptive Acceleration Factors for the Newton-Raphson Power Flow Study

Abstract

Abstract A discussion and analysis of adaptive acceleration factors for the Newton-Raphson power flow study are presented in this paper. The adaptive character is dependent on the improvement obtained at each iteration step. The problems of initialization are also discussed. A very special application of the procedure is motivation for the study: the harmonic power flow study. In that special purpose algorithm, the point of initialization is subject to be at a considerable distance from the solution. The poor convergence properties of the Newton-Raphson method are alleviated through the use of an adaptive acceleration factor. Also, in the harmonic power flow study, the Jacobian matrix is weakly coupled. The adaptive acceleration factor is proposed for any special case of a power flow study in which initialization difficulties are encountered and/or weak coupling or decoupling in the Jacobian occurs. Experience with the method and a description of the convergence rate is given.