(W) Current Controlled Switch Statement

The current-controlled switch monitors the current through another circuit element to control its switch resistance. Contrary to PLECS, it is not possible to simulate ideal switches (zero on-resistance, infinite off-resistance) in SPICE.

Wname pos neg Vname modelName
.MODEL modelName CSW <NAME=value ...>
  • The above statement probes the current of a device with the name Vname. Allowed device types are voltage sources (V), controlled sources (E, H), and function-based voltage sources (B).

  • You can customize this model by providing a list of model parameter (name-value format) at the end of the .MODEL statement.

PLECS Spice supports two types of current-controlled switch models:

  • Models without hysteresis and continuous resistance transitions

  • Models with hysteresis and discontinuous resistance transitions

Model Parameters

Continuous resistance model

Parameter

Value

Default Value

Ion

Control value at which the switch is fully closed

\(1\, \text{A}\)

Ioff

Control value at which the switch is fully opened

\(0\, \text{A}\)

Ron

Resistance when the switch is closed

\(1\, \Omega\)

Roff

Resistance when the switch is open

\(10^{6}\, \Omega\)

  • The switch resistance transitions smoothly between \(R_\text{off}\) and \(R_\text{on}\) over the control voltage range \(\left[I_\text{off}, I_\text{on}\right]\).

Hysteresis model

Parameter

Value

Default Value

It

Threshold current

\(0.5\, \text{A}\)

Ih

Hysteresis current

\(1\, \text{A}\)

Ron

Resistance when the switch is closed

\(1\, \Omega\)

Roff

Resistance when the switch is open

\(10^{6}\, \Omega\)

  • The switch changes its internal state from off to on (closes) when the control current \(I_\text{c}\) reaches \(I_\text{t} + |I_\text{h}|\) and opens again at \(I_\text{c} = I_\text{t} - |I_\text{h}|\).

Model selection

  • The continuous resistance model is automatically used when either Ion or Ioff is given and all parameters related to hysteresis are ignored.

  • When using the hysteresis model, it is recommended to specify both It and Ih to avoid compatibility issues with other SPICE solvers.

Examples

Vsense sense_in sense_out 0

W1 load_pos load_neg Vsense CSW_model
.MODEL CSW_model CSW Ion=10 Ioff=0.1 Ron=0.01 Roff=1Meg