Introduction to the GUI of SimuloLab
SimuloLab.web is an online electro-magnetic transient (EMT) simulation platform. It allows user to edit and run power system electro-magnetical transient simulations in a browser without installing any software on any device linked to the internet. It is an excellent learning tool for understanding power system phenomena and simulation technology.
This document explains the GUI (Graphic User Interface) and features of SimuloLab.
If you are new to EMT simulation, please take a look at Simulation 101
The blue selection box on the menu bar is used to select help topics.
You could read the information on various subjects, play with the simulation cases on the right side of the screen.
If you have questions not covered by this document, please feel free to to contact us by clicking the green "Email Us" button.
The following units are used in the simulation.
| Quantity | Unit |
|---|---|
| Time Step | μS ( $ {10}^{-6} $ seconds) |
| Time | S (seconds) |
| Frequency | Hz (Hertz) |
| Voltage | kV (kilo-volts) |
| Current | kA (kilo-ampares) |
| Active Power | MW (mega-watts) |
| Reactive Power | MVar (mega-VARs) |
| Resistance | Ω (Ohms) |
| Capacitance | μF(micro Farad) |
| Inductance | H (Henry) |
| Flux | kWb(kilo-Weber) |
| Flux Density | kT(kilo-Tesla) |
Menu bar at the top contains a drop-down selection list and several buttons.
The first item on the menu is the drop-down "File" menu.
Left click it to open the drop-down list, move the cursor to the item of your choice and then left click to select one of the following menu commands:
With the above drop-down list you can select of the the five demo cases.
In this document the drop-down list is used for selecting a different help topics.
The first item on the menu is a drop-down list for case selection. Each line in the list corresponds to a demo case.
Left click it to open the drop-down list, move the cursor to the item of your choice and
then left click to select it. A new demo case will be loaded along with the contents of the side scroll pane.
With the above drop-down list you can select of the the five demo cases.
In this document the drop-down list is used for selecting a different help topics.
Click the button
on the menu bar to run a case.
There will be an audio alert indicating the end of the simulation run.
Sometimes the demo case is set-up to run automatically after its loading.
Click the button
to modify case options, such as
simulation time step, simulation end time as well as plotting options.
Click the button
to show this help document.
(Clicking the help button on this page will not do anything).
Right-click the mouse button will bring up a menu and the type of which depends on where the mouse is pointed.
Point the mouse at a component, press and hold the left button while moving, release the button to drop the component.
There are dots (grid point) on the canvas indicating the location of valid connecting points for components and wires. When a component is dropped it will be attracted to the grid points nearest to the cursor location.
Select the component by pointing the cursor at the component.
A red rectangle will be drawn around the selected component.
Right click the mouse button to bring out the component menu:
Point the mouse at a blank area on the canvas and right click to bring up the canvas context menu:
Moving the mouse over "=>" will bring up a sub-menu. To add a power system or control component move the curser over the component to be added and then left-click, which will attach the newly created component to the cursor. Move the cursor to the desired location and then left-click to drop the component.
Right click the mouse while pointing at a blank area on the canvas and select "Case Options",
or click the button
will bring up the case options menu
as shown below:
Simulation time step (in μS) is the time step used for numerical integration during the simulation. Usually a time step of 50μS (50E-6 S) is sufficiently small to get accurate simulation results.
Simulation duration (in S) is the end time of the simulation.
Plot Range (in S) specifies the time range for the plots.
One can also plot from 0 to the end time and then zoom in to area of interest.
The last entry allows one to plot only some of the data points.
Sensors are measuring devices. There are two kinds of sensors: V sensors and I sensors.
V sensor is used to measure instantaneousus voltage in the power system.
It is placed over an electrical wire and measures the voltage at that node.
Here I stands for current (I) or Internal.
An I sensor can be used to measure instantaneous current in the power system or internal signals computed by a component model.
The I sensor has a parameter menu as shown below:
The default current reference direction is into the terminal. If "Reverse" is selected the reference direction will be out of the terminal. After running the simulation the reference directions of current will be shown in the circuit.
A scaling factor of positive value can be specified so that currents of different magnitudes can be plotted in the same graph for waveform comparisons.
Offset x and y values are used to draw the current name at a suitable location on the canvas.
An I sensors can be placed at what is called sensor point to pick up an internal signal
computed by a component.
The locations and names of those sensor points (if any) can be shown when pointing the cursor
at a component.
When an I sensor is used to measure an internal signal, reversing the "current direction" is the same as multiplying the values of the internal signal by -1.
Sensor points make it easier to monitor different quantities without clustering the screen with sensors and display meters.
A plot shows the instantaneous waveform of a voltage, current or control signal.
For a single curve plot the title bar shows the name of the signal and its minimum and maximum values.
For a plot with more than one curves the title bar shows the names and colors of the signals and the minimum and maximum of all the signals.
Press the letter key O/o while pointing the cursor at the title bar of a plot will bring up the plot options menu.
Display precision specifies the number of digits shown for the minimum/maximum values in the title bar.
When there is only one curve plot locking can be enabled by setting "Lock the current curve" to Yes. This feature can be used to compare the same signal corresponding to different system parameters or simulation time steps. The locked curve will be drawn as a thicker red trace.
To zoom in on an area: move the cursor to the top-left corner of the area of interest, press and hold the left button, move to the cursor and release the button when the rectangle covers the area of interest.
To zoom out or un-zoom: position the cursor inside the plot area and press the letter key U/u.
After zooming in on a plot, the rest of the plots can be zoomed to exactly the same range by what is called Zoom Synchronization which can be done by pressing the letter key Z/z while the cursor is inside a plot.
If there are more than one zoomed plots, zoom synchronization will use the range of the first zoomed plot.
Zoom synchronization makes it easy to observe the relationships of various signals.
Meters are used to show slow changing signals, such as real and reactive powers, RMS values of bus voltages and line currents as well as control signals.
At the end of a simulation run meters display the last reading of signals. Therefore meters are not suitable for displaying instantaneous values.
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