This task force paper summarizes the state-of-the-art real-time digital simulation concepts and technologies that are used for the analysis, design, and testing of the electric power system and its apparatus. This paper highlights the main building blocks of the real-time simulator, i.e., hardware, software, input-output systems, modeling, and solution techniques, interfacing capabilities to external hardware and various applications. It covers the most commonly used real-time digital simulators in both industry and academia. A comprehensive list of the real-time simulators is provided in a tabular review. The objective of this paper is to summarize salient features of various real-time simulators, so that the reader can benefit from understanding the relevant technologies and their applications, which will be presented in a separate paper.

Real-Time Simulation Technologies for Power Systems Design, Testing, and Analysis

Fault location is an important application among intelligent monitoring and outage management tasks used for realization of self healing networks, one of the most attractive features of smart grids. The data gathered from various intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) installed throughout the power system could be utilized for smart approaches to locating faults in both transmission and distribution systems. This paper discusses issues associated with improving accuracy of fault location methods in smart grids using an abundance of IED data. Two examples of how the gathered data from different IEDs is used to improve fault location accuracy in transmission and distribution systems are discussed in detail.

Smart Fault Location for Smart Grids

Abstruct - This paper presents details on the design, architectural features and applications of a real-time digital simulator (RTDSm) developed at the Manitoba HVDC Research Centre (Winnipeg, Canada). Custom hardware and software have been developed and collectively applied to the simulation and study of electromagnetic transients phenomenon in power systems in real-time. The combination of real-time operation, flexible YO, graphical user interface and an extensive library of accurate power system component models make the RTDS an ideal simulation tool with a wide range of applications. I. INTRODUCTION Simulation has long been recognized as an important and necessary step in the development, design and testing of power generation and transmission systems. A wide variety of both analogue and digital simulation tools are available and typically used during various stages of system development. Recent advances in both computing hardware and sophisticated power system component modelling techniques have significantly increased the application of digital simulation in the power system industry. Of particular interest in the context of this paper are the advances made in the study of electromagnetic transients phenomenon.

RTDS - A Fully Digital Power System Simulator Operating in Real Time

The paper presents a procedure for fault location in distribution networks, based on the use of the integrated time-frequency wavelet decompositions of the voltage transients associated with the fault-originated travelling waves. The proposed analysis of time-frequency wavelet decompositions has been found to improve the identification accuracy of the frequencies associated to the characteristic patterns of a fault location with respect to a sole frequency-domain wavelet analysis. Several laboratory fault tests, carried out by means of a reduced-scale model of a distribution feeder, are used to illustrate the characteristics and assess the performances of the proposed improved procedure. The paper also illustrates the application of the proposed procedure to a transient, originated by a permanent phase-to-phase fault, measured in a real distribution network in which a post-test analysis has identified the faulted branch.

/pdf/integrated-use-of-time-frequency-wavelet-decompositions-for-5ehk2t87zo.pdf

Integrated Use of Time-Frequency Wavelet Decompositions for Fault Location in Distribution Networks: Theory and Experimental Validation

The paper presents a new approach to the location of fault in the high-voltage power transmission line, relying on the application of the support vector machine and frequency characteristics of the measured one-terminal voltage and current transient signals of the system. The extensive numerical experiments performed for location of different kinds of faults of the transmission line have proved very good accuracy of fault location algorithm. The average error of fault location in a 200-km transmission line is below 100 m and the maximum error did not exceed 2 km.

Accurate fault location in the power transmission line using support vector machine approach

Earlier work at Texas A&M University led to the development of transmission line fault location algorithms that were based on synchronized sampling of the voltage and current data from the two ends of the line. The line models used in the algorithms were based on lumped parameter models for electrically short lines, or lossless distributed parameter models for electrically long lines. In this paper, the lossless line model is modified to account for the series losses in the line. The line model equations are then solved in the time domain to accurately locate the fault. Testing of the modified algorithm is performed on a power system belonging to the Western Area Power Administration. Extensive EMTP based simulations are used to generate data that are supplied as inputs to the fault location algorithm. To make the testing as realistic as possible, detailed models of instrument transformers are used in the simulation of the various fault cases.

/pdf/fault-location-using-the-distributed-parameter-transmission-3o1g3uivh2.pdf

Fault location using the distributed parameter transmission line model

This paper discusses characteristics of a new digital simulator for protection relay testing. The most demanding design requirement is computation of fault transients under the condition of real-time change of power system configuration due to relay operation. This problem is solved using EMTP computational techniques enhanced with novel numerical solutions for dynamic power system configuration change and nonlinear element modeling. An advanced computer architecture is utilized to achieve further optimization of the execution time for the transients computation code. The main advantage of this design is the use of conventional single processor computer architecture in combination with advanced digital signal processors (DSPs). This makes this simulator an off-the-shelf product with all the benefits of commercially available computers priced at a relatively low cost. >

Transients computation for relay testing in real-time

This paper presents implementation details describing a new design of a real-time digital simulator for relay testing The simulator is developed under requirements to utilize, as much as possible, low cost commercial computer hardware and system software support The other requirements ask for a three-terminal support with extensive graphical user interface (GUI) and a simulation time step as low as 50 /spl mu/s Such a design has been built for Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), USA, and fully validated using a model of an actual WAPA power system section The simulator was delivered to WAPA in March 1994

Design, implementation and validation of a real-time digital simulator for protection relay testing

Working group F-8 "Digital Simulator Performance Requirements for Relay Testing" of the Relay Input Sources Subcommittee, Power System Relaying Committee, was formed in 1992 with the following assignment: "Investigate performance characteristics of digital simulators when generating electromagnetic transient program (EMTP) and digital fault recorder (DFR) based relay test waveforms. Write performance requirements specifications and prepare a paper describing the importance of the simulator performance characteristics." This paper presents the work accomplished by the working group in fulfilling its assignment.

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel4/61/14462/00660855.pdf

Digital Simulator Performance Requirements for Relay Testing

This paper describes a method that was implemented for computing responses of series compensation capacitors with MOV protection in a real-time simulator for relay testing. The salient feature of the method is that the complete circuit is modeled as a single component. Accuracy of the method was verified through extensive comparisons against the full EMTP model. Achievement of the required speed of computation was tested through real-time simulations. The application is to transmission line overvoltage protection. >

S.M. McKenna

Papers

Fault location using the distributed parameter transmission line model

Transients computation for relay testing in real-time

Design, implementation and validation of a real-time digital simulator for protection relay testing

Digital Simulator Performance Requirements for Relay Testing

Computing responses of series compensation capacitors with MOV protection in real-time