Optimal distribution network reconfiguration for load balancing

To cope with increasingly serious three-phase disequilibrium in distribution network, a reconfiguration model is proposed for distribution network with the optimization objective of reducing three-phase disequilibrium. First by analyzing the distribution network in topology, the distribution network reconfiguration problem is converted into a problem of constructing spanning tree of the graph, which is solved by breaking-cycle-basis method. Then by selecting the first-branch randomly and canceling the heuristic value of network, an improved ant colony optimization algorithm is proposed to solve the reconfiguration problem, which can expand the search extent and avoid search stagnation. Specific examples of verification prove that the proposed algorithm can obtain the global best solution with less computation time and higher probability compared to the conventional methods.