1. PSIM: A Tutorial http://inside.mines.edu/~msimoes/
Good afternoon. My name is Jeferson Correa. I am a Ph. D. Student and I work with Dr. Simões with power electronics and control systems.
I am going to present to you a tutorial about PSIM, a simulation package for power electronics and also for control systems.

2. Presentation Outline What is PSIM? Circuit Structure
Getting started with PSIM
Hands-on Examples
I divided my presentation in this main topics:
First of all: what is PSIM?
Then I am going to present the circuit structure to be used with PSIM
After we are going to start using PSIM and I am going to present some basic operations with PSIM, like inserting components, building a simple circuit and using measurements on the circuit;
Then we are going to do to together some examples and, finally, you will have an exercise to do, ok?

3. What is PSIM?
PSIM is a simulation package specifically designed for power electronics and control circuits.
Manufactured by Powersim Inc.
( )
It allows fast simulation and it has a friendly user interface.
PSIM is indicated for system-level simulation, control loop design and motor drive system studies.
The basic PSIM package consists of three programs: circuit schematic program (SIMCAD), simulator program (PSIM), and waveform display program (SIMVIEW).
So; let’s start looking of what is PSIM.
Well, PSIM is a simlatoin package desinged for both power electronics and control systems.
It is manufactured by the the company PowerSim, whose web site is www,powersimtech.com.
You can download the evaluation version from this site.
PSIM allows fast simulation and its interface is very friendly to the user.
It is indicated for system-level simulation, including control loop design and motor drive systems.
Different from PSPICe, for example, PSIM is not indicated for devices studies.
The PSIM package contains three programs: the circuit schematic program (SIMCAD), the simulator program (PSIM) and the waveform display program (SIMVIEW)

4. Circuit Structure Power Circuit Switch Sensors Controllers
Control Circuit
Power Circuit
The circuit structure in PSIM is composed of the power circuit and the control circuit levels. The switch controllers conect the control systems signals to the power circuit devices and the sensors get information from the power circuit level to the control circuit level.

5. Circuit Structure Power Circuit Control Circuit Switch Controllers
Sensors
Switching
devices
RLC branches
Transformers
Coupled
inductors
S-domain
blocks
Z-domain
Logic
components
Non-linear
On-Off
controllers
PWM
Alpha
Current
Voltage
Torque
Speed
On the power Circuit we can have the swtching devices, such as IGBTs, MOSFETs; the RLC branches, transformers and also coupled inductors.
On the control circuit we can have: S-domain blocks, Z-domain blocks, logic components, such as flip-flops and gates; and also non-linear components, such as limiters and comparators.
On the switch controllers group we can have:
As sensors, we can use current sensors,voltage, torque and speed.

6. Getting Started with PSIM
Start PSIM: go to c:\PSIM6_DEMO -> PSIM
New
circuit
So, now, let’s start with PSIM.
We installed PSIM on all these computers. So, you can go to Start>Program>SIMCAD>Simcad.
If there is no icon there, you can start the Windows Explorer and go to C:\Program Files\PSIM-Student Version\ and then select SIMCAD.
When you start PSIM you will have this window open. You can go to Help and then About Simcad... To check the version which is 6.0 in our case.
Let’s use the New Circuit icon to start a new circuit. You can click on this icon to start, ok?

7. Getting Started with PSIM
Create a new circuit
Menu
Toolbar
Circuit window
Element toolbar

8. Getting Started with PSIM Example 1 – 1st Order System
50V
1 k
50nF
45 k 

9. Example 1 – 1st Order System
Insert a DC Voltage Source from the Element Toolbar.

10. Example 1 – 1st Order System
The DC Voltage Source can also be found in Elements > Sources > Voltage > DC

11. Example 1 – 1st Order System
Add two Resistors to the circuit.
To rotate an element click with the right button…
… or use the icon Rotate the Selection.

12. Example 1 – 1st Order System Add a Capacitor to the circuit.

13. Example 1 – 1st Order System
To connect the elements use the Wire tool.
Left-click on the circuit and drag the line with the mouse.

14. Example 1 – 1st Order System
Insert a Ground element.

15. Example 1 – 1st Order System
Set all the parameters values.
Do the same with the other elements
Double-click on the element to set its parameters.
Just close the window to set the new value.

16. Example 1 – 1st Order System
Set the simulation parameters: Insert a Simulation Control block.

17. Example 1 – 1st Order System
Set the simulation parameters: Time Step and Total Time.

18. Example 1 – 1st Order System
Insert a Voltage Probe (node to ground).
Double-click on the voltage probe to change its name to Vo.

19. Example 1 – 1st Order System
Start the simulation

20. Example 1 – 1st Order System
Select the variable Vo.

21. Example 1 – 1st Order System
Set the colors.

22. Example 1 – 1st Order System
Use the Zoom tool and buttons to select a specific area you want to see.

23. Example 1 – 1st Order System
Output file: *.txt
Measure tool.
What is the expected steady-state output voltage?

24. Example 2: Voltage Controller~
120Vrms,
60Hz
20
200mH

25. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Create a new circuit.

26. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Insert a Sinusoidal Voltage Source.

27. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Add two Thyristors to the circuit.

28. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Insert a R-L Branch.

29. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Connect all the elements.

30. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Add an Alpha Controller to the circuit.

31. Example 2: Voltage Controller

32. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Double-click on the block and click on Help to understand this block.

33. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Add a Voltage Sensor to the circuit to synchronize the gating signal.

34. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Insert a Comparator to detect the zero crossing (from Elements > Control > Comparator or from the Element toolbar)

35. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Add a Ground to the circuit. Insert a DC Voltage Source. Change its name to Alpha and display it.

36. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Insert a Step Voltage Source. Change its name to Enable and display it.

37. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Using Labels to make connections: insert a Label and name it G1.

38. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Connect the Label to the output of the Alpha Controller block. Insert another Label, name it G1 and connect it to the gate port of Thyristor 1.

39. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Create the alpha controller for the other Thyristor.
Insert a Voltage Sensor, a Comparator and an Alpha Controller block.

40. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Use Labels for the Enable signal (E), Alpha signal (A) and Gate signal for Thyristor 2 (G2).

41. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Insert an input Voltage Probe (Vi), an output Voltage Probe (Vo) and an output Current Probe (Io).

42. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Insert a Simulation Control block. Set the simulation time to 50 mili-seconds

43. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Set all the parameters values. Set the Alpha angle to 30o.

44. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Run the Simulation. Plot Vi and Vo.

45. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Add a new Screen and plot Io.

46. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Other tools: FFT and AVG.

47. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Other tools: FFT and AVG.
Run the circuit for Alpha equals to 60o and 90o.

48. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Additional measurements: load power, RMS current and power factor. (Example 5-2; Hart; pg 170)
Add a Watt Metter from Elements > Other > Probes > Watt Metter
Change the Time Step, Total Time and Print Step

49. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Additional measurements: load power, RMS current and power factor.
Add a Current Sensor and two RMS blocks from Elements > Control > Computational Blocks > RMS
Add Voltage Probes to measure the RMS values

50. Example 2: Voltage Controller
Additional measurements: load power, RMS current and power factor.

51. Example 3: Semiconverter~
120Vrms,
60Hz
10mH 2
100mH

52. Example 3: Semiconverter
Create a new circuit. Insert a Three-Phase Voltage Source.

53. Example 3: Semiconverter
Insert all the other power elements and connect them.

54. Example 3: Semiconverter
Insert and connect the Alpha Controllers.

55. Example 3: Semiconverter
Insert the Sources for the angle Alpha and for the Enable signal.

56. Example 3: Semiconverter
Connect the Gate signals, insert a Simulation Control (50 ms) and set all the parameters.
Insert an input Voltage Probe, an output Voltage Probe, an input Current Probe and an output Current Probe.

57. Example 3: Semiconverter
Run the circuit for Alpha equals to 30, 60 and 90 degrees. Check the results.

58. Example 3: Semiconverter
Exercise:
Implement the additional measurements for this circuit: THD, load power, RMS current and power factor.
See Ex. 5.9; Rashid; pg 156