Real-time Simulation of a 48-Pulse GTO STATCOM Compensated Power System on PC-Based RT-LAB Simulator

-This paper reports on the real-time simulation of a 48-pulse GTO STATCOM static compensator with RT-LAB Electrical System Simulator using Linux PC-based, multiprocessor technology. The power system has 3 buses and 3 transmission lines and is modeled with SimPowerSystems blockset for Simulink and specialized GTO models that provide an effective method to handle the large number of switches in the STATCOM. Using a 2.4 GHz Dual-Xeon PC running RedHawkTM Real-Time Linux®, the STATCOM and the power system are simulated in real-time with a time step of 36 μs. This paper demonstrates that modern and complex power electronic system controllers can be effectively tested and optimized using affordable and accurate real-time simulation technologies.