Import format

The format of the files used to import the model.

The possible values are:

• Excel

• PSS/E

• Powerfactory

License keys required:

• EPHASOR_INPUTFORMAT_PSSE

• EPHASOR_INPUTFORMAT_POWERFACTORY

Model conversion options

Import switches (Powerfactory)

When importing a model using the Powerfactory format, it is possible to filter switch components out of the original Powerfactory model.

Common settings

External components (optional)

If external components are required in the simulation, they can specified here.

Select Folder: This optional step allows importing additional external components that may interact with the power grid (e.g., renewable energy sources, control devices). This could include external code or custom models from external simulations.

Mappings (required conditionally)

When including external components to a model whenever the import format is PSS/E or Powerfactory, the mappings field is required.

Select File: Click this button to provide the component identifier to external component mapping.

Time Step

The time step is critical in determining how frequently the phasor domain equations are solved during the simulation.

Time Step: Enter the time step value in seconds. A typical value could be 0.01 seconds or other values depending on the desired simulation speed and accuracy. This defines the simulation's resolution and determines how accurately phasor behavior is captured over time.

Number of cores

This setting determines the number of CPU cores used to parallelize computation during the simulation. The system automatically assigns each simulation thread to a distinct CPU core. When the number of cores is set to 1, no parallelization occurs.

License keys required:

• EPHASOR_NUM_CORES

• EPHASOR_PARALLELIZE_GENUNITS

Number of partitions

This field is reserved for future use to enhance parallelization performance gains. At this time, the only possible value for this field is 1.

License keys required:

• EPHASOR_PARTITION_POWERSYSTEM

• EPHASOR_PARALLELIZE_GENUNITS

Timeout for sync client

This advanced simulation setting allows more time for signal acquisition synchronization when initializing the simulation. It may be necessary to increase this value for large models.

Load flow settings

Calculate load flow

Enabling load flow initializes bus voltages correctly, allowing the dynamic simulation to start with the network in a steady-state condition.

Calculate load flow: This step is optional and can be disabled if the load flow has already been calculated and integrated into the import source files.

License key required:

• EPHASOR_FEATURE_POWERFLOW

Max iterations

Max Iterations: Set the maximum number of iterations for the load flow solver to converge. Typically set to 100, but the load flow usually converges in less than 5-10 steps for stable networks.

Tolerance

Tolerance: This defines the convergence tolerance of the load flow solver. For high accuracy, a value like 1.0000e-8 is appropriate, ensuring that the mismatch, on the per unit value of the active and reactive power, between successive iterations is small enough to consider the solution converged.

Initialization mo

When setting the ePHASORSIM simulation in HYPERSIM, the Initialization Mode determines how the load flow starts. Since the Newton Raphson method used for this calculation is very sensitive to the starting point, this setting can make the load flow converge on a difficult network.

Here’s a breakdown of the three initialization modes available:

1. From Input Data

• Description: This mode uses the pre-defined operational conditions provided in the input file for bus voltages. The simulation starts with these values, assuming that they are already in a steady state.

• Use Case: Ideal when the input includes load flow results, makes it easy for the Newton Raphson algorithm to converge faster

• Example: When using PowerFactory input, if load flow was performed before exporting the xml file, the load flow results get included in the xml input file.

2. Flat Start

• Description: In this mode, all voltages are initialized to a flat, predefined condition. Typically, this means that all the PQ busses are set to “Vmag=1, Vang=0”. for all other busses (PV and Slack) voltage angle is set to 0 and voltage magnitude is left untouched.

• Use Case: This is the default mode used when there is no data about the typical values of the bus voltages

• Example: When designing a network using Excel input information about typical values of the bus voltage magnitude and angle are not available.

3. Smart Start

• Description: In this mode, ePHASORSIM start from Flat Start and runs a single iteration of linear load flow to get some initial values for Newton Raphson to work with. This will increase the possibility of convergence in very large or unstable networks.

• Use Case:

  • When the input data is incomplete or does not converge due to differences caused by incomplete import

  • When the load flow doesn’t converge using Flat Start or takes too many steps before converging

• Example:

  • A network from a third-party software was imported but there are some components that are not supported and were removed in ePHASORSIM. This means that if running the load flow is required, it would converge to a different point. In some cases, using input data will cause divergence in Newton Raphson due to the difference. In such cases, Smart Start helps Newton Raphson to start from a close point and converge to a valid solution.

  • A very large network was designed in an using the Excel format file and information about the bus voltages is not available. If the network is big enough, the Newton Raphson algorithm will struggle starting from Flat Start so by choosing Smart Start the algorithm will have a better chance of converging.

Controls

Create

Once all settings have been configured:

Create: Click the "Create" button to set up the simulation environment with the specified configurations.

Revert

Undo all user inputs made in the current session.

Cancel

Closes the window effectively cancelling the configuration of the simulation environment.