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:

1. Using Simscape Switches

   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) model switches controlled by an external physical signal. These switches with diode pairs are controlled by firing pulses produced by a PWM generator. These blocks are available in Simscape > Electrical > Semiconductors & Converters library.

   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 this approach might not capture all the valid configurations. With the increase in the number of switches the configurations increase exponentially as 2n, where n is the number of switches.

2. Using Dynamic Switches

   Dynamic switch blocks such as Switch, Diode, MOSFET and IGBT with diode pairs are controlled by firing pulses produced by a PWM generator. These blocks are available in SimscapeFPGAHIL_lib > Dynamic Switch Models library.

   The dynamic switch approximation method supports all local solvers. This method provides an improved FPGA sample rate, dead time stability, and prevents validation errors due to uncatalogued modes as this approximation uses only one configuration to solve the network. However, it requires manual tuning of switch parameters. To learn more about 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.