Real-time simulator for power quality disturbance applications

This paper presents the design and implementation of a laboratory-scaled power waveform generator which is suitable for developing fast, reliable, accurate and cost effective studies of electrical power systems on a real-time basis. The high-speed parallel processing and hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) capabilities of a real-time simulator are exploited in order to generate a variety of electrical signals with physical characteristics, providing a flexible tool to conduct studies concerning power quality problems. Examples and results of the utilization of this power waveform generator are presented. The software and hardware tools used are also discussed.