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Today, clean power is a key concern. Switch-mode power supply (SMPS) makers strive to ensure their designs offer power that's as clean as possible. Many designs fail as a result of the inability to satisfy European and U.S. Safety agency standards (i.e., electromagnetic compatibility and line transient requirements).

The ubiquitous personal computer's characteristic cosine shaped power pulse, shown in Fig. 1, requires 75% more current carrying capacity than necessary. Moreover, the turn-on surge can be large enough to cause operational glitches in other equipment. Related considerations with SMPS, such as overshoot and component stress at power up; snubbing of loadline; and EMI, comprise many facets to SMPS development. Advantages gained by using the latest applications provided by automated circuit design tools in meeting these criteria help speed the design process and improve product reliability. A designer can put together a complete design before ordering the parts needed to build a prototype. Today, the traditional breadboard is nearly obsolete because component geometries are becoming too small to manage practically using a lab paradigm.

PowerEsim is free SMPS power supply design, manufacturer & product database/list, switching converter topologies, circuit analysis, magnetic design software,.

For instance, excessively large geometries from pins on breadboards create capacitive and inductive parasitics. This, in turn, would degrade the debugging of SMPS designs, which are particularly sensitive to such phenomenon. As computers have become faster, so have modeling techniques used to simulate SMPS operation — including better convergence and accuracy. Specifically, software tools that address the design criteria of SMPS have advanced forward with analog and mixed-signal circuit simulation tool suites, while complete schematic templates include a wealth of power supply models.

The combined tool ICAP/4 showcases actual parts in applications that fit the needs of power supply designers, while special provisions accommodate the ON Semiconductor power supply templates — all available in downloadable demo format. A series of other new features in this simulation suite also provides important new benefits to the power supply designer. Examples include: large-signal average models; scripts for loop stability analysis; transformer and inductor design derived directly from SMPS electrical specifications; system level models for 60 Hz mains and SMPS loads; high frequency models for power capacitors and inductors; special injection models for measuring open loop properties within a closed loop circuit configuration; and automated extensions for advanced waveform post-processing functions. This last feature permits the designer to quickly view any number of specialized wave functions such as EMI compliance for IEC line harmonics and high frequency conduction (i.e., specified in CSPR16 and MIL-STD-461).

Another example includes EIC class A, B, C, and D specification waveforms compared with those produced by a design simulation. Templates Enable Faster and More Automated Design To give designers a quick start and faster solution, it includes a new power supply template technology. Consequently, the ICAP/4 offers generic forward and flyback converter topologies, plus more than 25 templates for ON Semiconductor products. 2 contains the simulation tool's SpiceNet schematic entry system. SpiceNet features layers (configurations) of different design overlays, each maintaining a common core of circuitry and parts.