Bacterial foraging algorithm application for induction motor field efficiency estimation under unbalanced voltages

In electric supply systems of industry and other entities, it is very common to find problems of power quality. Among these problems, unbalance and voltage deviation is one of the most common. They primarily affect the operation of electric motors. This paper proposes the use of a bacterial foraging algorithm as an economic, accurate and low-invasive tool, to obtain in field conditions, the output power, losses and efficiency of induction motors feed with unbalanced voltages. The algorithm is based on estimating the motor parameters of positive and negative equivalent circuits. The tool was tested on a 7.5 kW motor for different load conditions and high levels of voltage unbalance, yielding to accurate results, and demonstrating its effectiveness for performing energy audits in situ on unbalanced voltages conditions. This application of bacterial foraging technique has not been reported in the literature.