Getting started

Phasor is one desktop application. You do not need a server. You do not need an account. Your project data stays on your computer unless you export it.

This page shows you how to:

Install Phasor on macOS or Windows.
Create your first project.
Build a small network.
Run your first power flow study.

Install Phasor

Which macOS build do I need?

If your Mac has an M-series (Apple silicon) processor, download darwin-arm64. It is the smaller file. If you must use one file on both Apple silicon and Intel Macs — for example, one copy for a full office — download darwin-universal.

On macOS

Open the download page.
Download the build for your Mac.
Open the .zip file.
Drag Phasor.app into the /Applications folder.

On Windows

Open the download page.
Download phasor-setup-<version>-windows-x64.exe.
Run the installer.
Follow the steps on the screen.

Make sure the download is correct

Each download has a published SHA-256 checksum. Before you open the application for the first time, calculate the checksum of your file. Compare it with the published value. The two values must be the same.

On macOS, use this command in Terminal:

shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/phasor-0.1.0-darwin-arm64.zip

On Windows, use this command in Command Prompt:

certutil -hashfile phasor-setup-0.1.0-windows-x64.exe SHA256

macOS blocks the first launch

Phasor is not yet notarized with Apple. Because of this, macOS Gatekeeper stops the application the first time you open it. macOS shows a message that says the developer cannot be verified.

This message is normal for a build that is not signed. It is not a warning about the file contents. You already made sure the file is correct with the checksum above.

To open the application, do one of these two procedures:

Procedure 1 — Open from the Finder

Open the Applications folder.
Right-click (or Control-click) Phasor.app.
Select Open.
Select Open again in the dialog.

Procedure 2 — Remove the quarantine attribute

Open Terminal.
Enter this command:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Phasor.app

After you do one of these procedures one time, the application opens normally.

Create your first project

New project dialog with project name, description, system frequency, and base power fields. — New project — system frequency and base MVA

A Phasor project is one file on your disk. The file contains:

The network model.
The study definitions.
Each study result that you keep.

To create a project:

Select File → New project.
Enter a name for the project.
Set the system frequency: 50 Hz or 60 Hz.
Set the base MVA. Phasor uses this value for all per-unit results.

What is base MVA? Engineers compare values across voltage levels with the per-unit system. A per-unit value is the actual value divided by a base value. The base MVA is the power base for the full project. A usual value is 100 MVA. For the full explanation with an interactive example, see the per-unit system.

Declare the voltage levels

Tell the project which nominal voltages the network uses — for example 33 kV, 11 kV and 400 V.

Voltage levels control three things:

The color of each symbol on the diagram. Each voltage level has its own color.
The default equipment libraries for each level.
The checks that find connection errors — for example, a transformer connected to the wrong voltage level.

Place a source

Each network needs at least one source of power. A source is one of these:

A grid supply point. Enter the fault level that the utility declares.
A generator. Enter its rating and its impedances.

Build outward from the source

Add busbars, transformers, lines, cables and loads in the SLD editor. Each symbol that you place is the model element. You do not enter the data again in a separate table.

Run your first study

You can run a power flow when the model has a source, a transformer and a load. To run the study:

Open the Studies panel.
Create a power flow case.
Select the loading scenario. Phasor keeps each scenario separate. Peak demand and minimum demand do not overwrite each other.
Select Run.

The results show on the diagram immediately:

The voltage of each bus, in per unit.
The loading of each branch, as a percentage of its rating.
A flag on each element that is outside its limits.

If the study does not converge

Sometimes the solver cannot find a solution. This condition is called non-convergence. The error message names the element, not an internal identifier.

The two most frequent causes are:

Cause	What to do
An element has no impedance value	Open the element and enter the missing value.
A part of the network has no connection to a source (an island)	Open Graph Space. It shows each island. Close the switch that isolates the section, or add a source.

Where Phasor keeps your data

Item	Location
Project	One `.phasor` file, in the folder where you saved it
Equipment libraries	In the project file, so the project is complete in itself
Study results	In the project file, with a timestamp for each run
Application settings	In your OS user profile, not in the project

Because a project is one file, you can use normal version control. You can commit the file, make branches, and see which runs made which report.

Words used in this documentation

Word	Meaning
Bus	A node in the network. Equipment connects at buses.
Busbar	The physical bar in a substation that makes a bus.
Branch	A connection between two buses — a line, a cable or a transformer.
Element	One item in the model — a bus, a branch, a source, a switch or a load.
Scenario	One set of load values, for example peak demand.
Study	One calculation on the model, for example a power flow.
Per unit (pu)	A value divided by its base value. 1.00 pu voltage is the nominal voltage.

Next steps

Power flow — the study that most other studies use as their base
SLD editor — how the diagram and the model stay the same object
MCP automation — how to control Phasor from your own tools