Simulation-based teaching platform for power supply-demand interaction in nonferrous metal electrolysis

Integrated energy system courses in electrical engineering involve complex theoretical knowledge, coupled physical mechanisms, and interdisciplinary concepts. These courses require students to understand power system operation, industrial production processes, load regulation, energy conversion, and low-carbon operation. However, conventional teaching is often dominated by theoretical explanations and simplified cases, making it difficult to reproduce real industrial scenarios and dynamic regulation processes. This limitation hinders students’ systematic understanding of the role of energy-intensive industrial loads in power system regulation. To address these problems, this study designs and develops a simulation-based teaching platform for power supply-demand interaction in nonferrous metal electrolysis scenarios. The platform aims to improve students’ understanding of industrial load regulation mechanisms and enhance their engineering practice and interdisciplinary innovation capabilities.

The platform adopts a hierarchical architecture consisting of a physical layer, a data layer, a platform service layer, and an application interaction layer. The physical layer represents typical equipment, process units, and production stages in nonferrous metal electrolysis. The data layer stores and manages process parameters, energy consumption data, carbon emission information, and simulation results. The platform service layer supports model computation, scenario configuration, parameter adjustment, and simulation analysis. The application interaction layer provides a teaching-oriented interface that allows students to observe process states, modify operating parameters, compare regulation strategies, and analyze demand response performance. This architecture integrates mechanism-based coupled models of material flow, energy flow, and carbon-emission flow to characterize the relationships among production constraints, electrical load behavior, energy consumption, and carbon emissions. A comprehensive teaching case using electrolytic copper refining as the core scenario is developed. Following a progressive learning path from process cognition to parameter regulation and demand response simulation, the case guides students through a complete simulation workflow of power supply-demand interaction strategies.

Preliminary teaching practice indicates that the platform transforms the abstract knowledge of supply-demand interaction into observable, operable, and analyzable teaching content. Through the electrolytic copper refining case, students are guided to understand the relationships among industrial processes, electricity consumption behavior, energy flow distribution, and carbon-emission characteristics. This progressive teaching design supports the transition from static process cognition to dynamic regulation analysis, thereby deepening students’ understanding of the participation of flexible industrial loads in power system operation. Compared with conventional theoretical teaching, the proposed platform provides a more scenario-based environment for observing the effects of parameter changes on production operations, load characteristics, energy consumption, and demand response performance. The coupled simulation of material flow, energy flow, and carbon-emission flow further extends the teaching content from single electrical load modeling to integrated industrial energy system analysis, thereby helping students develop comprehensive engineering thinking and practical problem-solving skills.

The proposed simulation-based teaching platform provides a practical teaching tool for integrated energy system courses and the teaching of power supply-demand interaction education. By introducing the electrolysis scenario of a typical nonferrous metal and combining mechanism modeling, scenario simulation, parameter regulation, and demand response analysis, the platform helps improve the depth, practicality, and interactivity of course instruction. It also supports students in establishing a systematic understanding of industrial load regulation mechanisms and offers a practical reference for reforming teaching content, teaching methods, and practical training approaches in electrical engineering education.