Modeling Techniques for Simscape Converters

You can model the Simscape™ converters for hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation by using one of these modeling methods:

• Using Simscape Switches

  Model switches controlled by an external physical signal by using Simscape switch blocks such as Switch (Simscape), Ideal Semiconductor Switch (Simscape Electrical), Diode (Simscape Electrical), Diode (Simscape), IGBT (Ideal, Switching) (Simscape Electrical), GTO (Simscape Electrical), and MOSFET (Ideal, Switching) (Simscape Electrical). These switches, in conjunction with diode pairs, are controlled by firing pulses produced by a PWM generator. These blocks are available in the Simscape > Electrical > Semiconductors & Converters and Simscape > Foundation Library > Electrical > Electrical Elements libraries.

  Modeling the converters using Simscape switches is suitable for simple network topologies with a small number of switches. However, for complex topologies containing higher number of switches it can become difficult to capture all valid configurations that are possible. The number of possible configurations increases exponentially as 2n, where n is the number of switches.

• Using Dynamic Switches

  Dynamic switch blocks such as Switch, Diode, MOSFET and IGBT are controlled by firing pulses produced by a PWM generator. These blocks are available in SimscapeFPGAHIL_lib > Dynamic Switch Models library. You can open the library from the MATLAB^® Command Window.

  The dynamic switch approximation method supports all local solvers. This method provides an improved FPGA sample rate and dead time stability, and prevents validation errors because this approximation uses only one configuration to solve the network. However, using this method requires manual tuning of switch parameters. To learn more about the dynamic switch approximation method, see Generate HDL Code for Simscape Models by Using Dynamic Switch Approximation.

To learn how to model a converter by using Simscape switches and dynamic switches, see Model Simscape Synchronous Buck Converter for Real-Time Simulation and Deployment.