Tutorials
Electro-Thermal Design Part 2: Analog Electronics
Featured Article - Submitted by Mike Donnelly on 3 Sep 2020 | 08:15 PDTA new thermal model generation capability has recently been provided in Simcenter Flotherm. It will not only improve the accuracy and efficacy of the electro-thermal design process, but will also be easy for electronic circuit designers to use. In this article, which is Part 2 of a series, I’ll focus on an “LED Spotlight” application. This is intended to represent systems that are primarily composed of continuous (non-switching) analog electronics devices.
Electro-Thermal Design Part 1: Digital Electronics
Featured Article - Submitted by Mike Donnelly on 2 Sep 2020 | 17:54 PDTA new thermal model generation capability has recently been provided in Simcenter Flotherm. It will not only improve the accuracy and efficacy of the electro-thermal design process, but will also be easy for electronic circuit designers to use. In this article, which is Part 1 of a series, I’ll focus on an example application: A “smartphone”. This is intended to represent systems that are primarily composed of digital electronics devices.
Efficient Solar Battery Charging System
Featured Article - Submitted by Mike Donnelly on 12 May 2020 | 14:37 PDTSolar energy systems for residential use are typically limited by code to 600V, but commercial installations can operate at higher voltages. This opens the door to more efficient energy utilization. Achieving that efficiency has been made easier with the introduction of Silicon Carbide (SiC) Power Devices from Rohm Semiconductor. These components offer significant performance advantages over their Silicon (Si) counterparts.
Solar Panel Load Current vs. Voltage at different irradiance levels
LED Driver with Auto-Dimming for Thermal Protection
Featured Article - Submitted by Mike Donnelly on 21 Nov 2019 | 07:10 PSTIn my previous article I demonstrated an important self-protection feature of the NCV84160 from ON Semiconductor; its ability to enter thermal limit cycling if the internal device temperature gets too high. My friend and fellow model-developer, Alain Stas of Vishay, recently suggested that NTC thermistors could be used to provide similar protection at the circuit board or system level. One application where this could be implemented in a very natural way is for LED lighting systems.
Vishay SMD NTC Thermistors with Enhanced Stability
Test Drive the NCV84160 High-Side Driver Here!
Featured Article - Submitted by Mike Donnelly on 6 Sep 2019 | 11:05 PDTON Semiconductor has recently provided a high-fidelity model of their NCV84160 High-Side Driver. That device has many built-in functions and protection features beneficial to automotive lamp, solenoid and other driver applications.
Creating “Live” Embedded Designs to Demonstrate Your Applications
Featured Article - Submitted by Mike Donnelly on 13 Aug 2019 | 07:06 PDTWe have been asked by several of our customers for instructions on creating “Live” (a.k.a. “tunable”) designs and embedding them in their own web-pages. These component manufactures appreciate the accessibility and customer-education value of these interactive reference designs, for demonstrating key features and effective usage of their devices, in the context to the customer’s application!
This article describes a method for creating this content. It is also product of that approach!
Create a Word Document
Ember Coffee Mug Virtual Teardown
Featured Article - Submitted by Darrell on 11 Jul 2019 | 16:07 PDTVirtual Teardown
When I saw the original advertisement for the Ember coffee mug, I was drawn to it like a Seattleite to a Starbucks. I knew that I had to get one and would then inevitably spend my weekend trying to figure out precisely how it works.
Motion Control Design: Frequency Response Modeling of a Flexible Structure
Featured Article - Submitted by Mike Donnelly on 5 Nov 2018 | 18:01 PSTA versatile and effective modeling capability is available in our HyperLynx product family. It uses complex-pole fitting to extract simulation-ready models from measured frequency response data. This can be useful in a wide range of engineering design applications, from system level transfer function (signal flow) analysis, to modeling component interactions in a circuit simulation. The following example illustrates both of these aspects in a practical application: Design of a motion control loop that includes a flexible structure.
New: Explore Live Energy Harvesting Designs
Featured Article - Submitted by Mike Donnelly on 9 May 2018 | 18:54 PDTIn a previous blog post, I provided a number of Energy Harvesting example designs that could be modeled and simulated in SystemVision. These included electrodynamic, thermal and solar energy harvesting for Industrial IoT and Automotive applications. Subsequent to that posting, we added a rich new capability to SystemVision, "Live Designs".
Electric Power Steering - Coordinated Control, Electronics and Motor Design
Featured Article - Submitted by Mike Donnelly on 21 Apr 2018 | 18:32 PDTElectric Power Steering (EPS) systems provide a challenging control design problem for system integrators. Because the system directly interacts with the driver’s hands, reducing vibration is a must. But controlling the system’s fundamental mechanical resonance requires loop compensation, such as lead-lag, which can make the system sensitive to higher frequency disturbances (1). This can include cogging and torque ripple from the motor, or commutation noise from the drive electronics. For this reason, it is essential to have a tool flow that supports a coordinated design effort across these technologies.
Figure 2. MotorSolve B-field Analysis of the EPS PMSM Motor
Need a Power Fairy? You Need Coordinated Electrical and Thermal Design!
Featured Article - Submitted by Mike Donnelly on 16 Mar 2018 | 14:26 PDTA colleague of mine, a thermal design engineer, once made a comment that I’ll never forget. I was simulating a power electronics circuit and I placed a scope probe on a transistor model and plotted the power dissipation. Its value was of course changing over time, as the circuit’s operating state was varied during the simulated test scenario. He exclaimed: “You have a Power Fairy!”
Need To Tune-Up Your Network Signal Quality? Now You CAN (FD)!
Featured Article - Submitted by Mike Donnelly on 1 Mar 2018 | 17:23 PSTEver since the CAN specification was released many decades ago, designers have pushed their network configurations beyond the conservative limits of the standard, driven by manufacturablity, customization flexibility and other non-technical reasons. With thorough engineering analysis, including electrical simulation of the physical layer, they were able to design communication systems that meet both demanding performance and economic requirements.
Enabling Cloud-based Simulation for Independent and Collaborative Automotive Solutions
Featured Article - Submitted by Mike Donnelly on 4 Dec 2017 | 13:51 PST
ON Semiconductor uses SystemVision® Cloud to offer customers a comprehensive web-based design/simulation environment. By developing VHDL-AMS product models, ON's application engineers provide cloud-based product support, including interactive schematics and application notes, tunable simulations of pre-designed solutions, and free-form application designs.
Power Topologies: An Interactive Handbook
Featured Article - Submitted by Ben_2 on 23 Oct 2017 | 11:07 PDTThis handbook presents an overview of the most important DC-DC converter topologies. The main objective is to guide a designer in selecting the topology with its associated semiconductor devices. Be sure to interact with the embedded designs below, and feel free to take them into your own workspace to explore further!
Multiple Waveform Viewer and Smart Color Scheme
Featured Article - Submitted by Ben_2 on 5 Sep 2017 | 17:21 PDTSystemVision Cloud is all about modeling, simulation, and waveforms – lots of waveforms! We make it easy for you to view your waveforms by clicking on the probe icon, on the application toolbar, and dragging probes onto any wire or component.
Full-Screen Mode
Featured Article - Submitted by Ben_2 on 10 Jul 2017 | 16:30 PDTThe SystemVision Cloud application environment opens automatically within your web browser when you go to create a new design or take a closer look at a previously existing one. If you are going to spend more time in-depth designing, modeling, or simulating, it may be helpful to dedicate more of your screen space for this. SystemVision Cloud supports a full-screen mode as shown below
Go Full Screen
To go full screen, just click the window button as shown here.
Downloading Waveform Results in SystemVision Cloud
Featured Article - Submitted by Ben_2 on 10 Jul 2017 | 16:18 PDTWhen using SystemVision Cloud in modeling and design, the results of simulations can be valuable for a variety of reasons. Whether your using SystemVision Cloud's multi-discipline simulation engine to measure voltage or velocity, the output data can be useful and applicable outside of the application environment. Let's take a look at how to download simulation results.
Managing PWM Waveforms, Part 1 - Data Reduction
Featured Article - Submitted by Mike Donnelly on 29 Jun 2017 | 12:24 PDTThis is the first part of a three-part series on special handling of PWM waveforms. The first two parts deal with the large amount of data involved. The last part deals with precise characterization in the presence of switching cycle “noise.” I am honored to post this article, which was created by one of our talented community members, a modeling and simulation expert and my friend, Norm Elias.