Simulator speeds power system analysis

eMEGAsim is designed to meet the real-time simulation and testing needs of engineers and researchers across the power generation industry.

Available now from Opal-RT Technologies, eMEGAsim is a fully digital real-time power grid simulator for the study, test, and simulation of large in-land power grids, industrial power systems, commercial and military ships, and electrical train traction systems and feeding networks.

eMEGAsim is designed to meet the real-time simulation and testing needs of engineers and researchers across the power generation industry, from university researchers studying renewable energy sources to electrical utilities seeking ways to manage an increasingly diverse range of power generation and distribution systems.

eMEGAsim is integrated with Simulink/SimPowerSystems from The MathWorks and with the popular EMTP-RV offline simulation and transient analysis platform.

This integration means that existing SimPowerSystems and EMTP-RV power system models can be simulated in real time with extreme accuracy, saving the engineer valuable time, and eliminating the need to migrate to an unfamiliar power system modelling environment simply to conduct real-time simulation.

Developers and researchers of new distributed generation (DG) technologies including wind farms, off-grid power systems, photovoltaic cells and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles can also benefit from eMEGAsim's capability to simulate models of power electronic devices in real-time with a submicrosecond time step.

Such high precision simulation of the fast switching power electronic controllers found in DG technologies is critical for ensuring both their efficient operation and their safe and secure interconnection with existing power grids.

"The design and operation of power grids has radically evolved in recent years".

"With the introduction of distributed generation technologies and their associated power electronic devices, operators of large power systems face a growing need for high fidelity, real-time simulators that ensure the efficiency, security, and safety of power generation and distribution systems", says Jean Belanger, President and cofounder of Opal-RT Technologies.

"With the launch of eMEGAsim, electrical utilities now have access to compact and flexible real-time simulators that meets these growing needs now, and ten years from now".

In addition to the real-time simulation of large power systems and related power electronic devices, eMEGAsim is ideal for an array of electrical applications including: Co-ordination and testing of protective relays; design of variable frequency industrial drives and controllers; FACTS and HVDC control and integration studies; large-scale electromagnetic transient simulation, including interaction of multiple electrical systems; large-scale transient stability simulation; network planning and feasibility studies; operator training; balanced and unbalanced load-flow and short-circuit studies; and rapid control prototyping.

eMEGAsim is the ideal real-time simulator for users of the EMTP-RV platform for off-line simulation and analysis of transients in power systems.

EMTP-RV is used by many of the world's electrical utilities to evaluate system transients expected on transmission lines and other equipment.

Until now, large power grid models created using the EMTPWorks one-line diagram GUI could only be simulated in offline mode.

However, through its tight integration with Simulink/SimPowerSystems from The MathWorks, as well as Opal-RT's own powerful algorithmic solvers, eMEGAsim can be used to conduct real-time and fast simulation of large power grids modelled in the EMTP-RV environment.

This means that eMEGAsim can be easily integrated into an EMTP-RV environment to provide real-time simulation capability without the need for operators to learn new modelling/simulation software.

With eMEGAsim, EMTP-RV and SimPowerSystems models of electromagnetic transient phenomena can be simulated in real-time with a maximum sampling frequency of approximately 50kHz (20us) yielding excellent results for transients up to approximately 5kHz.

Faster transients up to 400kHz can be evaluated using FPGA processors with a 4MHz model time step.

eMEGAsim can be used in hard-real-time mode for HIL applications and in faster-than-real-time mode to accelerate the simulation of very large systems required to conduct system parameter optimisation.

eMEGAsim takes full advantage of fast FPGA processor technology and Intel's latest Core2 Quad CPUs to provide industry leading real-time simulation performance and accuracy.

The product also uses a modular design allowing engineers and researchers to conduct multiple studies simultaneously.

eMEGAsim eight-processor modules can be configured as multiple individual simulators to conduct multiple studies simultaneously, or interconnected to create a powerful platform using up to 64 processors for simulating very large power grids at a time step as low as 20us.

eMEGAsim also enables calculations of very fast transients by using onboard FPGA processors to achieve time steps of less than 250ns.

This functionality drastically increases the accuracy of simulation of complex power electronics devices found in most power systems.

Such supercomputer performance levels are extremely difficult to achieve with proprietary real-time computer systems, but is possible through eMEGAsim's use of off-the-shelf computer system configurations including the Altix XE supercomputer system from SGI, an Opal-RT partner.

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