Power Electronics: Computer Simulation and Analysis

Abstract

Power electronics is interdisciplinary and is at the confluence of three fundamental technical areas - power, electronics and control, .and is used in a wide variety of industries from computers to chemical plants to rolling mills. The importance of power electronics has grown over the years due to several factors.
Computer simulation can greatly aid in the analysis, design and education of Power Electronics. A computer simulation (or "sim") is an attempt to model a real-life or hypothetical situation on a computer so that it can be studied to see how the system works. By changing variables, predictions may be made about the behavior of the system. In our work towards this we have ensured to bring out the different responses of current and voltage in the power electronics circuits. However, simulation of power electronics systems is made challenging by the following factors:
1) Extreme non-linearity presented by switches,
2) Time constants within the system may differ by several orders of magnitude and
3) A lack of models.
Therefore, it is important that the objective of the computer analysis be evaluated carefully and an appropriate simulation package be chosen.
In view of the above considerations, a SPICE based simulation package PSpice and PSIM have been chosen by us for this very purpose. They have had the detailed device models and have been able to represent the controller portion of the converter system by its functional features in as simplified a manner as possible.