Comparative analysis of the DAQ cards-based and the IEC 61850-based real time simulations in the matlab/simulink environment for power system protections

Hardware-in-the-loop simulations might be considered as the most advanced method of power system protection testing. However, availability of these devices remains significantly low due to the cost barrier and sizes of the simulator. A rapid growth of the Matlab/Simulink tools and IEC61850 open source libraries in recent years has opened the possibilities of designing proprietary real time simulators that are comparable with commercial solutions. This paper presents two simulator designs one based on DAQ cards and the second one based on IEC61850 services. The performance limits of the simulators in the real time were compared in this paper. Furthermore, it was proven that the performance of these simulators is sufficient to conduct successful tests of protection relays. Consequently, the examples of protection relays testing results were discussed. Finally, it was explained why the presented designs might substantially support new protection algorithms verification. It is due to the high availability and the reduced device size.

Automated summary

Hardware-in-the-loop simulations are considered as an advanced method for power system protection testing, although their availability is limited due to cost and size constraints. The growth of Matlab/Simulink tools and IEC61850 open source libraries has enabled the design of proprietary real-time simulators that are comparable to commercial solutions. Two simulator designs based on DAQ cards and IEC61850 services were compared for real-time performance, showing sufficient capability for successful testing of protection relays. The presented designs could significantly support verification of new protection algorithms due to their high availability and compact size.