Array Connection

Concatenate arrays of conserving connections into single array-of-nodes port

Since R2025a

• 

Libraries:
Simscape / Utilities

Description

The Array Connection block concatenates arrays of conserving connections into a single array-of-nodes (AON) port. This block acts as a mux for the Simscape™ conserving connections by concatenating all elements on one side of the block into a single AON port on the other side.

Physical connection lines are nondirectional, therefore, the block can serve as both a mux and a demux for conserving connections. For example, you can declutter a model diagram by bundling multiple connections of the same type and having two Array Connection blocks, facing each other, with their AON ports connected. You can also use the Array Connection blocks to connect individual elements, or subsets of elements, of AON ports of different sizes.

Examples

Cooling Plate With Channels

A discretized cooling plate with cooling channels, divided into six segments: three on the top and three on the bottom. Each cooling plate segment is modeled as a thermal mass, while cooling channels are modeled using the Pipe (TL). The ConductiveHeatTransferArray, a custom component, models thermal conduction between the cooling plate segments.

• Open Model

Ports

Conserving

elementNodek — Element connection node k to concatenate

connection port

Connection port of type defined by the Domain parameter. This port represents an element that you want to concatenate, where k is an integer in the range [1, N]. The number of ports of this type, N, is equal to the value to which you set the Number of elements parameter (or, for scalar connections, the Number of scalar elements parameter). These ports are all located on the same side of the block icon and labeled 1, 2, and so on, through N.

arrayNode — Concatenated array of nodes

AON port

Concatenated AON port of type defined by the Domain parameter, located on the opposite side of the block icon from the element ports. This port does not have a label.

Parameters

Domain — Specify domain for block connections

Electrical Domain (default) | list of Foundation domains and registered custom domains | <specify domain path>

Specify the domain for the block connections. You can select from the list of domains or use the <specify domain path> option and type a custom domain name. The custom domain must be either in the current folder, in a folder that is on the MATLAB^® path, or in a namespace. If the custom domain is in a namespace, include the full path from the top-level namespace folder. The namespace top-level folder must reside either in the current folder or in a folder that is on the MATLAB path.

Concatenate dimension — Array dimension along which to concatenate element nodes

2 (default) | positive scalar

Specify the dimension along which to concatenate the element scalars or arrays:

• 1 — Concatenate elements vertically. The vertical array concatenation stacks the elements on top of each other in the concatenated array.

• 2 — Concatenate elements horizontally. The horizontal array concatenation places the elements side-by-side in the concatenated array.

• 3 or more — Perform multidimensional concatenation on the element arrays.

The element arrays must have compatible sizes for concatenation. Vertical concatenation requires the element arrays to have the same number of columns. Horizontal concatenation requires element arrays to have the same number of rows. Multidimensional concatenation requires that all of the dimensions of the element arrays are the same size except for the dimension they are concatenated along.

Mode — Specify whether element nodes are scalars or arrays

Scalar Elements (default) | Sized Elements

Specify the mode of concatenation:

• Scalar Elements — When all the element nodes being concatenated are scalars, you can use this simplified mode. In this mode, you specify only the number of elements and select whether to concatenate them vertically or horizontally. By default, Concatenate dimension is 2, which means that the block concatenates the elements horizontally. To concatenate them vertically, set the Concatenate dimension parameter to 1.

• Sized Elements — In this mode, the element nodes being concatenated can be either arrays or scalars. You specify the number of elements and the size of each element, and the block performs array concatenation according to the Concatenate dimension parameter value.

Number of scalar elements — Number of scalar element nodes to concatenate

2 (default) | positive integer

Specify the number of scalar element nodes to concatenate. This number defines the number of element ports on the block icon.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, set the Mode parameter to Scalar Elements.

Number of elements — Number of nonscalar element nodes to concatenate

2 (default) | positive scalar

Specify the number of nonscalar element nodes to concatenate. This number defines the number of element ports on the block icon and the number of Element size k parameters in the block dialog box.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, set the Mode parameter to Sized Elements.

Element size k — Array size in connection node k

[1,1] (default) | array

Element size in connection node k, where k is an integer in the range [1, Number of elements]. The number of parameters of this type is equal to the value to which you set the Number of elements parameter.

Dependencies

To enable this set of parameters, set the Mode parameter to Sized Elements.

Extended Capabilities

C/C++ Code Generation
Generate C and C++ code using Simulink® Coder™.

Version History

Introduced in R2025a