Transient Stability Analysis of Electrical Power Systems by means of LabVIEW based Simulation of STATCOM

Transient stability is the capability of the power system to maintain synchronism under the condition of a severe and fast disturbance in the system. Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) devices are used to control power flow along transmission lines and improve power system stability. Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) is one of the second generation FACTS devices that are usually used for voltage regulation. It so also used to improve power system stability by injecting or absorbing reactive power. In the present work the authors have made an attempt to simulate STATCOM in terms of transfer function models. These simulated models have been tested by incorporating them in a simple single-machine infinite-bus (SMIB) system as well as in a multi-machine power system. LabVIEW software has been employed for the simulation purpose. LabVIEW is a new research tool which is capable of representing dynamic systems in block diagram form, along with the provision of simulation of the system behavior in totality. This simulation technique also reduces the system complexity from a developer’s standpoint, and thus allows the researchers to concentrate on the application details. Such facilities are not available in the traditional means of measurement techniques and tools. Simulation results are encouraging and indicate that the proposed simulation model is very close to the physical simulation.