Simulator 16 User Guide - PowerWorld

Functional Description of Contour Options
Functional Description of the Contour Options
The previous help topics discussed basic contour options in the order they are arranged on the dialog.
The dialog is arranged so that the most important options are on the first tab and other on the
Contour Type Options tab. This help topic discusses the options in a manner which better describes
how the contour is actually created. A contour is calculated generally by a five-step process
1. Build a list of all possible data points (graphical locations)
2. Remove items that meet criteria from the list of data points
3. Assign a value to each data point
4. Calculate "virtual values" on a grid of points
5. Convert each "virtual values" into a color to create the contour image
Step 1: Build a list of data points (graphical locations)
The following options determine a list of potential data points (could also be called graphical
locations) which will be used to calculate the contour image.
Object - Simulator can contour several different values. To specify what Simulator should contour,
first choose the type of object. This corresponds to the type of display object that is drawn on the
oneline diagram. For instance if you want to contour a substation value, then you must have
substations drawn on your diagram. This selection narrows the set of quantities that can be
contoured, which is specified in the Value dropdown box.
Data points Per Line - The contouring algorithm for lines is no different than for points, except
that each line is represented by several points. For objects which are represented by graphical lines,
this option will specify the number of data point which should be used to represent the line.
Step 2: Remove items that meet criteria from the list of data points
After a complete list of potential data points is made, there are then several options for filtering out
things from this list which you do not want to effect the calculation of the contour image.
Filter - If you wish for the contour to be limited to only certain devices that meet specific criteria,
click on this button to define an Advanced Filter for the contour
Ignore Above Max - Check this check-box to completely ignore values above the maximum
percentage. This means that data which is larger than the Max % will not be used in calculating the
contour image
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