Pspice schematics 9.1 software#
And a topological description of a circuit is known as a netlist - and this is the level that electric circuit simulator software (and circuit theory in general) works on. Therefore, in circuit theory, what is of interest is topology - that is, we are interested in what is connected to what - instead of how these connection looks like, which is geometry (which, as we mentioned, is taken care of by the schematic software). Hence in circuit theory we don't necesarilly deal with 'wires' as physical objects we instead deal with 'nodes' and 'branches', where a 'node' with be a group of any ammount of wires (as in 'ideal conductors') connected together at one end. However, in circuit theory, we take that all (idealized) conductors have resistance of zero Ohms and that any connection between two (ideal) conductors can be treated as a single conductor. In other words, schematic software will keep track of all graphical information of a schematic in terms of x,y coordinates - not unlike a vector drawing software (such as Inkscape). When we talk of a schematic, what we talk about is geometry in terms of computers, that means that a schematic software must 'know' the looks (geometric/graphical descripton) of symbols for V, R, L and C then it must also 'know' that there is a line connecting V and R on top at an angle of 90 degrees (and same for the bottom) that there is a line connecting R and L on top at an angle of 90 degrees etc. Let's take a look at a brief example - say, this parallel RLC circuit: Notably, the solving of equations by hand is replaced by the simulation process and this is the part that we're going to focus on in this document that is, we're looking at possibilities to replace PSpice with ngspice in terms of simulation - and pcb layout will not be discussed ( apart from Notes on layout). The finished layout files can be then sent to a manufacturer for implementation. Using the schematic as a starting point, we would draw a PCB layout of the circuit
We draw a circuit schematic in a schematic editorīased on this schematic, we perform simulation on the circuit, to obtain solutions for the variable(s) of interest (say, some voltage in the circuit) Computer software for Electronic design automation also goes along these steps: Of course, traditionally, we would in principle do all these steps 'by hand', using 'pen & paper'. Once we are satisfied with the theoretical design, we would obtain parts - and we would draw a PCB layout of the circuit for the given partsįinally, we implement the PCB layout on a real circuit board with the parts, and produce a finished circuit. We would set-up a system of equations based on the schematic and circuit theory, and we would solve for the variable(s) of interest (say, some voltage in the circuit), to see whether it would theoretically behave as we want to We would draw a schematic of the electric circuit
Traditionally, we would approach electronic circuit design like this: This document will discuss possibilities of porting stuff from Pspice to ngspice (from gEDA), but only in terms of simulation of electric circuits and to see what it all means, let's take a look back at the basics. So, as I only occasionally have to delve into this, I usually forget all the basics related to simulation - so I thought I'd write it up this time ( while it's still fresh :D) for future reference. In other words: simulating a circuit with a couple of elements, in order to do a simple theoretical exercise - is simply not a reason good enough for me, to experience proprietary software vendor lock-in.
Pspice schematics 9.1 install#
Now, back in the late 90's, I don't think there was even anything else to use and even these days - if you're designing your latest iP(o)(a)d circuitry and you need speed and efficiency, it's obviously reasonable to invest in software that will increase your productivity, in order to hoard the tons of ca$h from your productĪnd - of course you can install the old PSpice Student under Wine (see Installing & Running PSpice Student 9.1 on Ubuntu Lucid - Ubuntu Forums) - but I find it very irritating that I'm led to use proprietary stuff like PSpice all over again, even for relatively simple things - when there are open source tools these days, that actually will ( even though in a slower, and maybe not as streamlined, manner) perform the same job just as well. Well, it's been a while since I've done electric circuit simulation in my bachelor days, however every once in a while I have to do it yet again - and usually I'm expected to run Pspice 9.1 Student version for Windows.
0 kommentar(er)
