Development of the real-time simulator to test advanced automation device in electricity distribution networks

Abstract

The smart grid is an electricity network in which the actions of all users are intelligently integrated in order to efficiently distribute sustainable, economical and safe sources of electricity. The use of sensing, embedded processing and digital communication should make modern electricity networks observable, controllable, automated and fully integrated. Small computational units, at strategic points in the distribution feeders and active loads, must provide technological resources for automation of the distribution in cooperation with the conventional protection technologies existing in the substations. The development of these computational units with data models and communication protocols based on international standards guarantees support for the system's security and interoperability, but represents a challenge to be overcome due to their technological innovation. Therefore, the analysis of the behavior of these computational units should use the Hardware-In-the-Loop simulation as a mechanism for studying normal and critical operating situations. It is thus proposed the development of a hybrid technique for simulating the transient in distribution systems, combining the high sampling rate of models in the time domain for monitoring voltage and current with the processing speed of the algorithms that operate the phasor models, quasi-stationary, or permanent.