Due to the increasing number of power electronic devices in modern power systems in the past two decades, the numerical simulation results of electromechanical transient processes based on quasi-steady state models have been questioned under critical operating mode. Therefore, it is urgent to develop software for electromagnetic transient simulation of real power systems. One of the most difficult problems in this study is how to set up a suitable power electronic switching model. This paper reviews relative research literatures on mathematical models of power electronic switches without considering their own transient processes, introduces the establishment methods of various models and their applications in widely used commercial software, and evaluates their advantages and disadvantages.

electromagnetic transient simulation, ideal switch model, inductance/capacitance model (L/C model),Ron/Roff model, transmission-line modeling (TLM)