PHIL Single Phase Current Source Interface

This section describes the PHIL Single Phase Current Source Interface component, one of a collection of PHIL components for specific system applications. The PHIL setup where this interface component is used is a high power single-phase current-source.

The PHIL Single Phase Current Source Interface is a PHIL interface component used to link the real time simulation with a real power amplifier, to form a PHIL system, by means of analog input/output signals. The PHIL Single Phase Current Source component's internal structure is shown in Figure 1. It is composed of an analog input controlled voltage source, voltage and current measurements, and a RMS calculation unit. As can be seen electrically within the simulated model, this interface component is represented by a voltage source. This voltage source is defined through the analog input of the real-time simulator. The analog signal must be provided by the power amplifier. Analog signal that is sent to the power amplifier is the Ia_msr current. This current is the reference for the power amplifier, therefore the amplifier behaves as a current source.

Table 1. PHIL Single Phase Current Source Interface in the Schematic Editor core library
component component dialog window component parameters

PHIL Single Phase Current Source
  • Analog input
  • Dynamic gain and offset settings
  • Analog input offset
  • Analog input gain
  • HIL Device ID
  • Assign analog output
    • Channel
    • Scaling
    • Offset
  • Bandwidth enable
  • Bandwidth limit
  • Execution rate
  • Series resistance

Dynamic gain and offset settings are available only if the selected real-time simulation HIL device supports Time Varying Elements. When the dynamic gain and offset is enabled, related SCADA inputs are added. This is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the PHIL Single Phase Current Source Interface

The list of measurements available in the PHIL Single Phase Current Source Interface is shown in Internal analog measurements of the PHIL Single Phase Current Source Interface.

Internal analog measurements of the PHIL Single Phase Current Source Interface

Analog output variable name Description
(name).Ia_msr Instantaneous current - usually used as a reference for the power amplifier.
(name).Va_msr Instantaneous voltage.
(name).Ia_msr_RMS RMS current.
(name).Va_msr_RMS RMS voltage.

A typical use case of the PHIL Single Phase Current Source Interface is in a PV Emulator PHIL system (Figure 2). A photovoltaic panel behaves as a current source. The PV is simulated by the real-time simulation. The current generated by the PV is measured and fed to the power amplifier's analog input through the real-time simulator’s analog output. Voltage measured by the power amplifier on its high power terminals is provided to the real-time simulation through analog input.

Figure 2. PV Emulator example illustration