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While working from home, a PCB designer may not have access to expensive power supplies to test fairly simple boards. By using low-noise linear voltage regulators, you can create a customizable power supply using 9 different voltages, ranging from 2.5 to 15 V. The power supply is equipped with an AC to DC converter, making it transportable for the do-it-all engineer. With easy access to this adjustable power supply, you do not need gigantic power supplies to complete your testing. 

The simulation model of the Adjustable Power Supply is shown below:

We are pleased to announce that PartQuest Explore now supports import of SPICE subcircuits and individual ".model" statements as a way to specify a model for use in the PartQuest Explore Design Analyzer. Simply choose the Create New Component > From SPICE menu when you are editing a design.

Watch this short video to see a demonstration:

Simply right-click and choose "Add Favorite"

The PartQuest Explore Team is happy to announce that we’re adding new models to support electro-hydraulic system development. We’ve recently added basic hydraulic elements, such as a pump, valve and cylinder (or linear actuator). We will be adding many more models in the near future, but the examples shown in this blog demonstrate the broad range of electro-hydraulic motion and fluid control systems that are already supported.

Many have observed that as a rechargeable battery is discharged the voltage that it supplies drops. Conversely, when it it recharged, the output voltage goes back up.  Wouldn't it be nice if you could measure this voltage, as a function of the state-of-charge (SOC), and use it to quickly make an accurate model for the battery?  This blog will show you how to do just this with PartQuest Explore.

The PartQuest Explore Team is happy to announce that we’re adding many models to support motor and control systems development. We’ve recently added a new PMSM (Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine) model, and updated our Induction Motor model. We will be adding Stepper and SRM (Switched Reluctance Motor) models in the very near future. Continuous control algorithm blocks that support field oriented control (FOC), such as Clarke and Park transforms, have also been added. Some of these are shown in the design example below.

As director of the original PartQuest Explore multi-discipline environment, I’m excited to introduce the next generation of this powerful technology.  This brief video explains why PartQuest Explore should be the tool of choice for online circuit & system simulation.

PartQuest Explore provides a great design platform for sensor signal conditioning circuits, as well as for verifying sensor systems in the context of their external applications. A key feature PartQuest Explore that makes this possible is the ability to create a “just right” model of the sensor itself. This can be a detailed physics-based model that captures both the internal behavior and the electrical interface characteristics of the sensor, to accurately represent its interaction with the signal conditioning circuit.

In this article, you can experiment with a Virtual Evaluation Board for the NCV8876. This component is used to boost the voltage during drop-out events, in vehicle start-stop applications.

In vehicles with a “Start-Stop” operating mode, the engine is turned off frequently to improve fuel economy. But low-voltage drop-outs must be avoided during re-start. The NCV8876 from On Semiconductor makes it easy to boost the voltage during these drop-out events. This article shows you how!

In the world of the FIRST Robotics Competition, the CIM motor is the trusted workhorse. These motors have lots of power and they can take a ton of abuse and keep on running.  Most FRC robots use CIM motors for any and all heavy-lifting jobs, including primary drive motors and any game tools that need a lot of torque or power. Read this blog to learn how to model a CIM motor using PartQuest Explore.

You've poured brilliant engineering ideas and tremendous design effort into your products, so they can have valuable features that are useful in broad applications. Yet these are not always well understood by your customers. Your work isn’t finished until the customer "gets it"!

Updated 27 Sept. 2018 10:21 PM US-EDT

Ideal “sources” are essential components on every simulation schematic. They represent the external stimulus and operating conditions for the circuit or system under test. PartQuest Explore provides a basic set of voltage and current sources (i.e. constant, pulse, sine, etc.) that are expected in all circuit simulators. But, we also provide much more versatile “function generators” that operate like the lab instruments for which they are named. The user can select the function type and all its relevant parameters, while the function generator is in-place in the circuit.

Coilcraft has provided models of their XAL family of power inductors in the PartQuest Explore Partner Library. This article shows the importance of the "soft saturation" magnetic characteristic of these parts, which can prevent catastrophic transient over-currents during start-up and other operating conditions.

Irah Comia 

Lithium ion batteries are incredibly popular. They recharge phones, laptops, cameras, and now cars. These batteries are highly efficient and have changed the outlook on the battery industry. When approaching high temperatures, lithium ion batteries can be dangerous and extremely flammable. Modeling is a perfect way to avoid these errors; it can be used to work as a standard lithium ion battery and behave in an electronic circuit.

Did you know that PartQuest Explore allows you to embed a live design and/or a waveform viewer in online documents? This is similar to embedding a YouTube video in an online document -- the content is live and can be viewed and manipulated in place.

This is nice when you want a simple way to share a design or set of waveforms. You could just share a static image, but wouldn't it be nicer if the person viewing it could interact with it in a fuller, richer way? Now you can!

Performing a web search for "fuel cell model" returns an encouraging number of hits, but further investigation often results in models that aren't that useful. The model presented here is a free, open, online execution model written in VHDL-AMS. The model can be used to fit available polarization curves, so that a commercial fuel cell can be modeled without knowing the details of how it is constructed. Finally, the model can be used in arbitrary PartQuest Explore circuit schematics, available free and online on explore.partquest.com.

PartQuest Explore provides the perfect collaboration environment for Power System Engineers, whether they work on Generation, Transmission or Distribution Systems, or if they design Power Converters or complex end-user Load Systems. On-line access, with nothing to install or license, allows many participants to effectively work together on a “virtual grid” model. The participants may include component and sub-system application engineers, consultants, industry experts and educators, as well as utility system planning and development engineers.

1. PartQuest Explore gives you a single environment where you can model and simulate complete systems

Imagine – a single environment where you can model analog, digital, and power electronics, transfer functions and math-based blocks, sensors and actuators, and physical environments. Pick symbols from a rich selection of elements, drop them onto a diagram, wire them together, and simulate the multi-discipline performance of the system.