A GUI based per-unit representation of power system with symmetrical components: an e-learning approach

Every textbook on power system analysis discusses the per-unit system, varying in depth with problems and solutions. However, it is still not an interactive method for teaching and learning the per-unit representation. Thus, it needs a new approach to make teaching and learning process more interactive and interesting for students. The graphical user interface (GUI) provides the user with interactive visual communication to analyze the power systems. This paper presents the GUI based per-unit representation of power systems with symmetrical components in the visual basic (VB) environment. The software allows the user to draw the single line diagram representing the power system with ratings of each component. This GUI based per-unit system is developed for the teaching and learning environment of the power system analysis. The user can make use of this interactive software to calculate the per-unit impedance with respect to the system common MVA base. The reactance diagram of the three sequence impedances, namely, the zero-, positive-, and negative- sequence impedances, can be drawn either manually or automatically. It is hoped that this GUI software will enhance the learning process and make it more interactive, interesting and user friendly.