Hello,

I am improving a previous person's design of the maximum power point tracker. This power point tracker is basically a boost converter that has logic to determine the right duty ratio depending on environment conditions. This MPPT has the solar cells as input and has battery as its load.

To improve this design, hardware wise, I have have to increase its input/output efficiency. So right now I'm only focusing on the boost converter part of the MPPT.

Before physically testing I wish to simulate on computer so I can tune the circuit values and obtain the most efficient configuration (I dont have budget for buying lots of components, I must be somewhere close before buying).

Do you guys know a circuit simulator that will meet my requirements?
-free
-used by many people
-intuitive interface
-I can observer steady state operation of the circuit

I tried using Multisim but it's simulation is too slow and I cannot see the steady state operation of the circuit.
I am debating if I should use Simulink or Pspice because I had a hard time with it from past experience from school.

MrBuggy

 

Take a look at LTSpice. Lots of LT converters in the database and a user group.

 

Typically a Spice simulator is used for that and they all tend to have a steep learning curve. Many on this forum use LTspice since it's free from Linear Technology and is optimized to simulate switching power supplies. They have many sample test circuits included, using their switching regulator chips, that you can use to get a feel for how the simulations work. But it still can take awhile to simulate a complex switching power circuit since they generally have a high frequency switching action but a low frequency control loop, which can take many thousand cycles of the switching frequency to settle to the steady-state output value. A fast PC helps.