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TRANSCRIPT
Hello and welcome to Typhoon HIL Control Center.
Let’s get you introduced to your new software and the main tools you can use.
This video is designed to give you a sense of what Typhoon HIL Control Center can do for you.
So let’s get started. The first thing that you are going to see when you
open the software is this main window.Here at the bottom of the main screen you
can check the current version of the software.In the top right corner, you can find information
about your licenses – valid and expired, such as – the serial number, valid until, days left.
Finally, at the bottom of this window you can find buttons that allow you to import
or change your license file, see detailed license info, and adjust proxy settings.
Next to the license button, you can find the Documentation Hub, our offline documentation
library. By simply clicking on this button, you will get access to the documentation and all
necessary information that will help you better understand the capabilities and of the software.
Documentation is split into 3 subcategories – User Guides, Technical Notes, and API documentation.
So, let’s check what it looks like. Let’s open Schematic Editor Component Libraries.
Say, you want to find out more about the Component Library. You can just click here and read more
about the general properties of each component in the component library of Schematic Editor.
Of course, you can see the list of the main types of components that are available.
Next to the Documentation Hub is the Example button which allows you easy access to our
Examples library. The examples are organized by application areas and which you can browse using
the navigation tree on the left. By clicking on the example you get a short description
with a preview of the model schematic. The model can be opened directly by clicking on
the Open model button. There is also a link to an application note using that example.
Examples are great way to kick off your modeling project without having to work from scratch. For
more information check out the Example Explorer tutorial link in the video description.
In the top left corner is the Device Manager application where you can find
the list of connected HIL devices either via Ethernet or via USB.
The detected devices list contains information like device type and interface,
availability status, identifiers like device name, serial number and some firmware details.
The orange and green status icons inform us whether the HIL is as Busy or Available.
On the left side is your active HIL setup. By pressing the connect button you take explicit
control of device that you want to use. The Device Manager supports remote access and
networked operation in a multi-HIL multi-user environment. You can learn more about this if
you follow the link for Device Manager tutorial in the video description.
Ok, now, after the general introduction, you should get acquainted with the most important
tools at your disposal. The first thing you can see is Schematic Editor. This is where you can
build your models and compile them.After model compilation has finished,
you can open your model in HIL SCADA, which is this next tool in the toolchain. HIL SCADA
allows us to run simulation on your HIL device or in the Virtual HIL environment.
Most importantly, HIL SCADA allows you to interact with the simulation in real time.
TyphoonTest IDE is the place where you can write python scripts to automate your tests and help
you in day to day development practice. Typhoon HIL software is Python based and the tests are
done by means of Typhoon HIL API, which is a set of Python functions that allows you
to control the environment, load models, run them and interact with them programmatically.
Of course, you can use TyphoonTest IDE to control input variables and check outputs. In a nutshell,
TyphoonTest IDE is a domain specific testing tool for power electronics and power systems.
Right below the main toolchain, you can see the plus icon called Additional tools.
Simply by clicking it, you will get access to tools such as the Waveform Generator,
Signal Analyzer, Script Editor, Firmware Manager,
as well as the Test and Calibration tool.So, let’s first check the Waveform Generator.
As you can see, here you have a PV waveform generator. You can generate more than one PV
model file here: detailed, EN50530 compatible, or IV normalized. Down here you can input some
parameters and preview the Generated PV curve and verify the result and behavior of the PV panel.
You can then save it and import them afterwards when we you are running your simulation.
Finally, you also have a tab called the Source file generator,
where you can generate custom files that you can also later import into the simulation.
Signal Analyzer is a tool you will use for visualizing and analyzing signal
data exported within Typhoon HIL software or dynamically imported from HIL SCADA.
It shares the same visualization and signal analysis functionality as the Capture/Scope
HIL SCADA widget. After Signal Analyzer is opened, you will notice a similar start-up screen to HIL
SCADA and Schematic Editor: the screen shows your recently imported signal data files.
Signal Analyzer can also dynamically import data sent from HIL SCADA.
Data can only be imported from Trace Graph and Capture/Scope HIL SCADA widgets. It is also worth
mentioning that imported signals can be analyzed in more details, such as by doing FFT analysis.
With the Script Editor, you can write, open, and execute various
automated testing scripts written in Python, using appropriate Typhoon API libraries.
Keep in mind that Script Editor is primarily designed for running basic Python scripts.
For doing TyphoonTest-based automated tests, TyphoonTest IDE is better suited.
The Firmware Manager is the place where you go to update the firmware of your HIL device. This
is also where you change the configuration of the HIL device, and read details such as: Device name,
Interface, Serial number, and Firmware status. By clicking the Device table button you can get more
detailed information about features available in different firmware configurations.
As you can see by clicking on this icon, this application is the one you
use to test and calibrate your HIL device using the HIL Calibration Card. Right now,
we have HIL Device connected and you can see all displayed in this window.
When you click on the Test button, only the I/O test procedure will run.
However, if you click the Test and calibrate button, you will run three processes:
the I/O test procedure, the calibration procedure, and the verification procedure.
So, this was a brief, general description of the main and additional tools in the Typhoon
HIL Control Center toolchain. The aim of this first part was to introduce you to the features
and capabilities that this software offers you. In the next videos, you will be going deeper
into details about each tool, so let’s start by introducing you to the Schematic Editor.
