Chopper (High-Side Switch)

Purpose

Buck converter with a Sub-cycle average implementation

Library

Electrical / Power Modules

Description

../../_images/igbt_chopper_highsideswitch.svg

This Power Module implements a chopper used in buck converters.

The component offers two configurations:

Sub-cycle average

Each gate input is controlled by a floating-point number with values between \(0\) and \(1\), representing the relative on-time of the corresponding semiconductor over one simulation step, as described in Sub-cycle Averaging. The high-voltage side of the converter has current source behavior and must be connected to a positively biased capacitor or voltage source. The low-voltage side is typically connected to an inductor.

In Sub-cycle average configuration, C code generated from this component is suitable for real-time simulations on the RT Box, where it is executed on the CPU or FlexArray solver. In this case, connect the gate inputs to PWM Capture blocks from the RT Box component library.

Switched

The power semiconductors are modelled as ideal switches controlled by instantaneous logical gate signals. A switch is turned on when the corresponding gate signal is non-zero. For compatibility with the Sub-cycle average configuration it is recommended to use the value \(1\) for non-zero gate signals.

The Switched configuration is not recommended for real-time simulations on the RT Box. It is intended for offline simulations that resolve each individual switching event and can serve as a reference for results obtained with the Sub-cycle average configuration.

Note

DC voltage clamping through diodes is not permitted. Therefore, ensure that DC voltages across diodes are not negative.

Parameters

Configuration: Selects the component configuration. See the descriptions of Sub-cycle average and Switched above.
Semiconductor symbol: Use this setting to choose between IGBT and MOSFET for the symbol of the active semiconductor switches. This setting only affects the schematic representation and does not change the electrical behavior of the component.
Switch model (CPU code generation): If the Configuration is set to Sub-cycle average, this parameter selects the switch model when CPU code is generated.