Readme.rtf

PSCAD/EMTDC 4.2.1              May, 2007

Welcome to PSCAD/EMTDC V4.2. Version 4.2.1 is available as a complete install only and can be installed alongside existing installations of PSCAD V3, V4.0.X, V4.1.X, and V4.2.0.

There exist two separate installs, one for Professional/Educational and one for Student/Evaluation Versions of PSCAD.  

This maintenance release is to enhance software stability and correct several minor defects detected over the life cycle of PSCAD/EMTDC.

PSCAD 4.2.1 (2007)

·         changes in PSCAD application - no changes from PSCAD 4.2.1 (2006)

·         PSCAD Master Library changes: see table below

·         changes in PSCAD examples:

o        \examples\PMmachine\pm_machine.psc – changed a +/- sign in asummation block

PSCAD 4.2.1 (2006)

Items of note:

·         The behaviour of the slider/switch components have changed slightly when there is no associated control panel. Changes made to the default values (through parameter setting window) are not automatically applied. The initial value of the component when first created is always used. A right click control has been provided to immediately apply the value.

·         PSCAD Computations and Checks with predefined values was reworked for Version 4.2.0 which introduced a bug.  This computation failure affected 4 components in the Master library where 'E' was used as a computed variable: Source1 and source3 the most critical, the two others were obsolete source models (source1n and source3n).  For V4.2.0, a new Master Library was distributed (V4.2.0.3) on the PSCAD website and affected users notified. This deficiency has been repaired in V4.2.1.

·         Support has been provided for Intel Visual Fortran V9.1.

·         The default library location for integrating with Fortran compilers has changed in Matlab.  As a result, PSCAD cannot detect the library path when Matlab R2006a is used. There is a workaround documented in the What’s New section of the online help.

Known issues:

·         The Hardware Key Rainbow USB driver version 7.71.9 does not properly support Hibernation/standby. The older version 5.39.6 Sentinel drivers properly detected the lock after waking up from hibernation & suspend modes; however there may be other driver conflicts with installed software. The new 7.71.9 drivers do not detect the lock after waking up from hibernation & suspend modes unless you unplug and replug in the lock.

·         PSCAD V4.2.1 will not run on Windows NT4.  PSCAD is only supported on Windows 2000 and Windows XP Pro 32 bit. For Windows XP 64, see the note below for a complete discussion.

License Manager (1.27) [released 2007]

There have been several enhancements to the License Manager since 1.26 was released with PSCAD V4.2.1 in 2006. These enhancements include:

·         operates on Windows XP 64, and on Windows Vista,

·         supports the Sentinel driver version 7.112.9, installer version 7.3.2

·         improved licensing and additional diagnostic messages,

·         handles the determination of the IP of computers with VPN adapters.

License Manager (1.26) [released 2006]

There have been several enhancements to the License Manager since 1.25 released with PSCAD V4.2.0. These enhancements include:

·         improved licensing and additional diagnostic messages,

·         if lockless trial licenses are available, they are consumed first before any PRO or EDU licenses,

·         if lock is absent, License Manager does not display a random number

·         supports the Sentinel driver version 7.92.9,

·         handles the determination of the IP of computers with multiple ethernet adapters. See http://bb.pscad.com License Manager thread for further details on the multi-homed machine issue,

·         the License Manager will license PSCAD clients on the License Manager network, where the term network is defined in RFC-960, page 2,

·         the class of PSCAD IP addresses that the License Manager will respond to can the same class as the License Manager, or it can be restricted. For example, a License Manager on a class B network can only respond to PSCAD clients on that same class B network; it cannot respond to PSCAD clients on another class B network, or another class A network. The terms network and network class are defined in RFC-960, page 2.

Service and Support:

For more information on updates/support, please visit our website and PSCAD Forum at www.pscad.com. If you have any suggestions regarding this software, please send e-mail to the address below.

For information on PSCAD/EMTDC courses, or custom model development, please contact:

Manitoba HVDC Research Centre Inc.

244 Cree Crescent 

Winnipeg, MB  CANADA 

R3J 3W1

Ph: +1 204 989-1240

Fx: +1 204 989-1277

support@pscad.com

PSCAD/EMTDC 4.2 Key highlights             

Important Notes

Blank Parameter Fields: When a component parameter field is undefined, earlier PSCAD compiler versions assumed a value of '0.0', a real number. This assumption is potentially risky since no real number was actually entered.  By design in PSCAD V4.2, the compiler will no longer accept indeterminate input values and resolves to 'NaN' (see parameter viewing dialog). This produces a compiling error and will not run the case. The user model must have a valid default if the user does not enter anything. This may require previous version PSCAD model maintenance if defaults were neglected in the original design.  More information on this item can be found by visiting http://bb.pscad.com/view_topic.php?id=466&forum_id=14

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition:  If you want to run PSCAD 4.2.0 Professional or Educational on Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, you must configure PSCAD to get a license from a License Manager on another machine, or use a lockless trial license. The 32- bit Sentinel lock drivers supplied with the PSCAD and LM installers will install on XP 64, but will not run, so neither the License Manager nor PSCAD will be able to detect USB or parallel port locks.

Correctly Uninstalling PSCAD 4.2.0: Use the Add/Remove Programs control panel to properly uninstall (remove) PSCAD 4.2.0. If you browse to the PSCAD CD and start Setup.exe and then select Remove, the uninstall process will remove all registry keys required by other installed versions of PSCAD V4. Should this happen, you need to repair the remaining installed versions of PSCAD V4.

PSCAD Improvements

In this section we have compiled a collection of brief overviews of individual changes to the architecture of PSCAD. The following items are not listed in any particular order, but provide some detail as to the nature of the change and how it may impact current users.

Unit Conversion System:

Unit conversion has been a high demand item for development in recent months. A new system has been integrated to perform automatic unit conversion. This function is a table based conversion utility build into the data manipulation code for the components. It operates as a separate object design to accept input as a source unit and convert to a defined target unit. It is important to note that there are 3 basic types of units conversion identified. They are:

1) Direct proportional conversion (i.e. metre >> feet)

2) Translational conversion (i.e. Celsius >> Fahrenheit)

3) Domain inverse relationship (i.e. sec >> Hz)

The unit conversion system implements the first form of conversion only. Proportional conversion has a common intercept point through zero and thus does not require the input value to provide a conversion ratio. In addition the conversion is capable of handling multiple terms as long as both the count and operator sequence match. An example of this is the conversion of [ohm/m*s] to [kohms/ft*s] where both the source and target units specification contain the same number of terms (3) and the same operator sequence (/*).

Scaling factors prefixes are included in engineering factors of 103 each from pico(-12) to giga(+12). Scaling factors can not be combined in accordance to SI standards and are limited to 10e±12.

Operator precedence is always left to right. Precedence control symbols '(' and ')' are not supported. Power terms are support with a “^” symbol, i.e. kg/m^3 would be kilograms per cubic meter.

Literal terms are supported in a limited fashion. This allows for units to be specified as [1/s] for example, or even [3.14/s]. Literals can not contain a sign or any exponential as this is ambiguous with operators.

If a conversion cannot be performed the system will return an indeterminate factor represented by #NaN which is then handled by the error messaging system. If the source equals the target the behaviour is unity (of course). If either unit is not specified then the default behaviour is unity (1.0). This behaviour is irregardless of an existing unit having literals or not.

It is also possible to successfully convert units that are represented by common alias terms if they are provided in the database. Typical examples of this are [Hz] as an alias for [rev/s] and [rpm] as an alias for [rev/min]. Support for aliasing extends to single term unit specifications only. Multipliers are legal, so the term [kHz] will correctly convert to the compound term [krev/s]. This is possible since the multiplier is handled separately from the base unit.

To support the units conversion object a new XML data file (units.dat) is included. This file must be placed in the home directory.

It is important to note that this system was developed using the National Institute of Standards and Technology as a reference on SI. The implementation is partial and is intended for use in electromechanical systems. The reference can be found at:

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