Real-Time Digital Simulators: A Comprehensive Study on System Overview, Application, and Importance

The multifarious improvements in computational and simulation tools have brought tremendous progress in the field of designing, testing and analyzing technologies. In this paper, the technological aspects and the concept of modern real-time digital simulators are presented. The real-time simulator functions in real time, thus it produces continuous output that realistically represents the conditions of a real system. Also, in a real-time simulator the user can test physical devices. Therefore, it is of great importance to understand the features and roles of the advanced simulator technologies. Also, User-friendly system interface, easy application in system design and testing, and most importantly cost effectiveness are the most desire features for implying these simulator into a research. Therefore, this paper summarizes all significant features by considering the above-mentioned facts of some most popular, globally, and commercially available simulator technologies. Real Time Digital Simulators (RTDS), OPAL-RT, Network Torsion Machine Control (NETOMAC), dSPACE, Real-Time solution by MathWorks (xPC target, Real-Time Windows target), Power_system Online_simulation Unveil Your Analysis (POUYA) Simulator and Typhoon HIL Simulator are discussed in this review paper based on the accessibility of information. A summarization of these simulators’ background, hardware, software and communication protocols are presented. Applications of these above-mentioned simulators are also added to understand the potentials of these simulators

Modeling of Phosphorous Acid Fuel Cell in PSCAD

The renewable energy sources, such as wind, fuel cells, etc. are gaining more attention due to the increase in energy demand as well as being environmental kindly. A dynamic model of Phosphorous Acid Fuel Cell is modeled and simulated using PSCAD/EMTDC. The system consists of a fuel cell stack along with 3-phase Pulse-Width Modulator (PWM) inverter, LCL filter and step-up transformer connected to the main grid. A Real-Reactive power controller is implemented into the 3-phase PWM inverter to control and stabilize the active and reactive power flow onto the main grid. A LCL filter is connected to the inverter side, which eliminates the ultra-harmonic distortions of the frequency. The effect of the Line-Ground, Line-Line, etc. faults on the performance of the main grid’s output voltage is analyzed and studied. The fuel cell is connected to the main grid and the simulation results contain the analysis at different stages of the simulation

The origins of the trypanosome genome strains Trypanosoma brucei brucei TREU 927, T. b. gambiense DAL 972, T. vivax Y486 and T. congolense IL3000

The genomes of several tsetse-transmitted African trypanosomes (Trypanosoma brucei brucei, T. b. gambiense, T. vivax, T. congolense) have been sequenced and are available to search online. The trypanosome strains chosen for the genome sequencing projects were selected because they had been well characterised in the laboratory, but all were isolated several decades ago. The purpose of this short review is to provide some background information on the origins and biological characterisation of these strains as a source of reference for future users of the genome data. With high throughput sequencing of many more trypanosome genomes in prospect, it is important to understand the phylogenetic relationships of the genome strains

The PREDICTS database: a global database of how local terrestrial biodiversity responds to human impacts

Biodiversity continues to decline in the face of increasing anthropogenic pressures such as habitat destruction, exploitation, pollution and introduction of alien species. Existing global databases of species’ threat status or population time series are dominated by charismatic species. The collation of datasets with broad taxonomic and biogeographic extents, and that support computation of a range of biodiversity indicators, is necessary to enable better understanding of historical declines and to project – and avert – future declines. We describe and assess a new database of more than 1.6 million samples from 78 countries representing over 28,000 species, collated from existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different intensities and types of anthropogenic pressures, from terrestrial sites around the world. The database contains measurements taken in 208 (of 814) ecoregions, 13 (of 14) biomes, 25 (of 35) biodiversity hotspots and 16 (of 17) megadiverse countries. The database contains more than 1% of the total number of all species described, and more than 1% of the described species within many taxonomic groups – including flowering plants, gymnosperms, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, beetles, lepidopterans and hymenopterans. The dataset, which is still being added to, is therefore already considerably larger and more representative than those used by previous quantitative models of biodiversity trends and responses. The database is being assembled as part of the PREDICTS project (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems – www.predicts.org.uk). We make site-level summary data available alongside this article. The full database will be publicly available in 2015

Evaluation of GaN HEMTs in H³TRB Reliability Testing

Gallium Nitride (GaN) power devices can offer better switching performance and higher efficiency than Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Silicon (Si) devices in power electronics applications. GaN has extensively been incorporated in electric vehicle charging stations and power supplies, subjected to harsh environmental conditions. Many reliability studies evaluate GaN power devices through thermal stresses during current conduction or pulsing, with a few focusing on high blocking voltage and high humidity. This paper compares GaN-on-Si High-Electron-Mobility Transistors (HEMT) device characteristics under a High Humidity, High Temperature, Reverse Bias (H3TRB) Test. Twenty-one devices from three manufacturers were subjected to 85 °C and 85% relative humidity while blocking 80% of their voltage rating. Devices from two manufacturers utilize a cascade configuration with a silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), while the devices from the third manufacturer are lateral p-GaN HEMTs. Through characterization, three sample devices have exhibited degraded blocking voltage capability. The results of the H3TRB test and potential causes of the failure mode are discussed