A modern digital simulation laboratory for power systems

A real-time AC power system simulation laboratory that has been developed at Arizona State University is described. The laboratory gives students the opportunity to witness first-hand how a large power system behaves. It can simulate scenarios to demonstrate system disturbances of various types as well as appropriate recovery actions. Researchers also use the laboratory to study power system control methods, effects of various models and algorithms in the simulation, the effectiveness of full graphic displays, and computer communication methods. An overview is given of the computational environment, which consists of three major types of software running concurrently on two computers. The operation of the system is demonstrated for a simple scenario, i.e. relieving an overloaded transformer or line.>