Power Electronics Applications

Trade Studies, Preliminary Analysis, and Optimization

Simscape Electrical offers two key advantages for early-stage systematic power converter design and trade studies:

1. Direct MATLAB integration for scripting, design automation, and optimization—ideal for automated design space exploration.
2. Control over simulation detail, from thermally dependent transistor models to high‑level behavioral models that abstract converter switching and control.

Together, these features create a unified environment where automation and model fidelity are tailored to project requirements.

Use MATLAB to drive optimization and trade studies with Simscape Electrical models, addressing multiple objectives during circuit simulations. Prioritize factors such as cost, power quality, or bandwidth, while enforcing hard constraints such as minimum efficiency or required gain and phase margin.

• Apply discrete and integer‑based optimization to ensure the selection of real, off‑the‑shelf components.
• Combine continuous and discrete constraints to explore circuit architecture, component values, control schemes, and more.
• Apply local, global, and AI‑based optimization strategies, and leverage Design of Experiments (DOE) to systematically cover all circuit parameters of interest.

Multiple Levels of Fidelity

Simscape Electrical offers components at different levels of model detail to address specific design criteria. Make system‑level and detailed design decisions within the same workflow.

Scenarios:

• System‑level analysis for cost and efficiency without low‑level control loops
• Gate‑drive resistance tuning to balance efficiency vs. EMI

Fidelity levels for power electronic semiconductors:

• Detailed nonlinear switches (SPICE‑like): Capture turn‑on/turn‑off dynamics and nonlinearities.
• Switched linear devices: Ignore detailed transition dynamics to enable fast exploration of switching effects and quantify losses by using pre-calculated loss tables.
• Average-value models: Focus on higher‑order system dynamics, including discontinuous conduction mode (DCM).

Multiple levels of model fidelity also apply to batteries, motors, ICs, and more. Selecting the right fidelity is critical for building useful models with available data, supporting iterative design even when some details are unknown. It also speeds model creation, maintenance, and simulation by abstracting complexity.

Vendor Parts SPICE Netlist and XML Import

Simscape Electrical supports manufacturer-defined component modeling in three ways:

1. Data sheet-based modeling: Use parameters from manufacturer datasheets to configure Simscape Electrical library blocks when vendor-supplied simulation models are unavailable and datasheet values are sufficient for system-level analysis.
2. Parameter extraction from simulation: Simulate manufacturer SPICE models to extract key parameters—such as switching losses, capacitance profiles, and thermal characteristics—that populate lookup tables for behavioral models. This process replicates device performance while using a built-in Simscape Electrical library component.
3. SPICE netlist import: Import detailed manufacturer device models using SPICE netlists that include nonlinearities and RLC parasitics.

Simscape Electrical includes component data from Infineon^® and Wolfspeed, and it provides tools to build representative models for any discrete device given appropriate vendor data. This capability ensures consistent, verified modeling across electrical, thermal, and control domains.

Featured Examples

Co-Simulation and Model Export

Simscape Electrical fits into existing hardware design workflows, which often include EDA and layout software for final design file generation. To support this integration, Simulink provides co-simulation and model export capabilities, enabling adoption across many design environments. Leverage the strengths of different platforms simultaneously with co-simulation with circuit simulation tools, such as PSpice and SIMetrix. Export circuit models as C and HDL/Verilog code for use in EDA tools, integrating with SystemVerilog and allowing models created in Simscape Electrical to run within EDA environments.

Featured Examples

Thermal and Mechanical Analysis

Packaging and layout are critical in power converter design. Simscape Electrical provides detailed loss calculations at every fidelity level:

• For transistor models, both switching and conduction losses are always calculated
• With piecewise‑linear models for faster simulation, losses are imported from vendor tables or auto‑generated from physics-based transistor models, including soft‑switching scenarios
• Average-value and behavioral models incorporate efficiency maps to maintain accurate thermal behavior and circuit efficiency

Simscape Electrical provides thermal modeling via Cauer and Foster networks, enabling the simulation of conductive, convective, and radiative heat transfer. Models can include advanced details such as liquid and two‑phase cooling and heat exchangers, letting circuit designers evaluate heat extraction strategies while considering the power demands of active cooling.

Model electromechanical components like motors and solenoids at various fidelity levels, ranging from lumped parameter representations to imported FEA reduced order models (ROM). These models can incorporate detailed nonlinear behavior, as seen in electric motors, which captures effects such as spatial harmonics and magnetic saturation. Add thermal behavior as needed to support comprehensive analysis across electrical and mechanical domains.

Requirements Traceability

MATLAB and Simulink provide a comprehensive environment for requirements traceability within structured hardware design workflows, designed to comply with functional safety standards such as ISO 26262 and IEC 61508. Establish a digital thread connecting text-based requirements directly to circuit models, simulations, and test results with Simulink Requirements, Simulink Test, and Simscape Electrical.