MATLAB/Simulink and PSPice as modelling tools for power systems and power electronics

The Power System Blockset (PSB) simulation tool uses the MATLAB/Simulink environment to represent common components and devices found in electrical power networks. The PSB is well suited to the simulation of medium size power systems and power electronics using variable or fixed step algorithms from Simulink. The PSB libraries contain basic elements as well as many ready-built sub-systems. Control systems using Simulink blocks can be naturally integrated into the power system model. The computation capabilities of MATLAB/Simulink can be advantageously exploited in post-processing of the simulation results. SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis) can perform nonlinear DC, nonlinear transient, and linear AC analyses. In addition to the standard R,L and C elements, models for transmission lines and several semiconductor devices types are also available. In the study of power systems, PSpice is well suited for device-level modeling of small size systems: study of voltages and currents in power converters, snubber circuit design, study of transformer transients, etc. Also, PSpice performs well for system-level modeling of small size power systems (less than 30 states and 6 switches) using ideal switch models instead of detailed semiconductor models