Hello Team, Yesterday I came across the webinar regarding on-semi models integration with plecs. Its really interesting. I downloaded the On-semi semiconductors models. But, I just want to know whether, I can get the NCD57540 driver PLECS model so that, I want to see the performance of the driver along with inverter in the PLECS environment before moving towards real time hardware prototype.
Hi Raja38,
Glad to hear that you found the webinar intriguing.
PLECS uses ideal switches, which enable fast and efficient simulation of power electronics systems. These switches operate in either the on or off state, with instantaneous transitions. This is a key factor in allowing PLECS to simulate large systems efficiently.
As a result of this ideal switching behavior, switching losses cannot be calculated directly using the instantaneous product of device voltage and current. Instead, PLECS uses a lookup table approach to model switching losses. You can find more details here: Thermal Concepts — PLECS 5.0 Documentation .
This approach allows PLECS to retain fast simulation performance while still capturing the thermal behavior of power electronic systems in an efficient manner.
With that context, a detailed model of the NCD57540 is not required for thermal simulation. In PLECS, the inputs to FETs and IGBTs come from the controls domain. The switch is off when the control signal is zero and on when the control signal is nonzero.
For the Onsemi devices, accurately capturing losses primarily depends on the gate drive resistances, which are specified in the component mask (see the example below). These parameters are used by the lookup tables to compute design-specific switching losses and the detailed data is provided by Onsemi.
I hope this helps answer your question.
I think you may be asking about onsemi’s update where specific gate driver products can be paired with specific switches and simulated in PLECS. My understanding is that this is coming soon but will be integrated into their “Elite Power Simulator” where custom paired models can be generated on their website and used in the tool. The actual models being run will simply be classic PLECS thermal descriptions (xml files), but with data that is heavily influenced by and customized based on the specific gate driver-switch pairing. Hence, my colleague’s explanation about how the gate driver is not actually simulated in detail in PLECS.