Web-Based Toolset Accelerates Power Supply Design For Both Power Electronics Experts And Non-Experts

Focus:

Functionality, ease of use, and simulation speed have been optimized in a free online, power supply design and simulation toolset called PowerEsim. Within PowerEsim, there are several tools including ones for circuit simulation, loss analysis, thermal simulation, input harmonic analysis, Monte Carlo analysis, and magnetics design. These individual tools are seamlessly integrated so that the users feel as if they are using a single tool. Furthermore, PowerESim has been optimized to perform very fast simulations. To accommodate the varying skill levels and requirements of both power supply and non-power supply designers, the toolset offers three different options for starting a power converter design. These include “start a design step by step,” “start a design from topology,” and “start a design from reference [design]”. After briefly describing these options and the magnetics design tool (Magnetic Builder), this article demonstrates how a power supply designer could use PowerESim to design a power factor correction (PFC) stage. At various points in the article, toolset capabilities and limitations are discussed including those relating to component selection, the ability to change various aspects of a design, the ability to generate magnetic component drawings; and the lack of integration with a PCB layout tool.

What you’ll learn:

• How to use the free PowerESim design and simulation toolset to design power supplies
• How to speed power supply development by using free design and simulation software

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Author & Publication:

Franki Poon, PowerELab, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong, How2Power Today, Aug 15 2013

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