PRECISION POWER DESIGN: FROM CONCEPT TO QUALIFICATION

Circuit Analytix LLC provides end-to-end SMPS and Inverter design excellence, prioritizing success from the concept phase.

TOTAL WORKFLOW

A rigorous 9-stage engineering cycle ensures your power converter is optimized for your specific application.

FIX IT NOW

Designed for success by considering electromagnetic interference and extreme use cases at the concept stage—doing it right once is always cheaper.

SIMULATION

If you can't get it to work in a model, how can you expect it to work on the bench?

THE 9-STAGE DESIGN PIPELINE

A methodical approach to power electronics engineering where every step builds on verified data.

01

Standards Review

Identification of relevant regulatory, industry and application requirements.

02

Specification Development

Detailed documentation of source and load requirements, extreme operating conditions, I/O requirements, environmental and mechanical constraints, response requirements and a testing plan. These documents serve as the "North Star" for the entire design process.

03

Architecture Selection / Optimization

This phase involves working with the customer to determine what they want in their final product, the customer's needs are qualitatively documented and used to determine the weights for characteristics such as efficiency, response time, volume, cost, etc... which are used to weight an objective function to select the optimal design for the application.

04

High-Level Simulation

Mathematical modeling to verify control loops and basic power flow. This stage catches any architectural problems or challenges before detailed circuit work begins.

05

Circuit Design

Detailed schematic entry including component selection with appropriate de-ratings based on application reliability requirements. EMI mitigation starts here with strategic filtering,  snubber design and appropriate switch transition rates.

06

Detailed Simulation

A SPICE-level analysis is performed on the detailed design. Simulations are done to confirm performance, margins and evaluate extreme use cases. Upon request a statistical tolerance analysis can be performed.

07

PCB Design

Layout focused on power integrity and compliance. Critical paths are minimized, field and heat sources are strategically managed.

08

Functional Testing

Bench testing of the first prototypes. Verification of performance, regulation, responses and extreme use cases against the test plan.

09

Qualification Testing

Work with the client to schedule and oversee compliance testing at a 3rd party lab.

ARCHITECTURE & OPTIMIZATION

Designing the product for the application through data-driven analysis.

Trade-Off analysis

For some applications a simple data driven trade off analysis is adequate to determine the appropriate architecture and design parameters. This can account for the discrete nature of component availabilty, but looks at a much smaller portion of the design space than a full discretized optimization.

Analytic optimization

For more competitive markets developing a mathematical model which can be solved for optimal solutions may make sense. This type of optimization is theoretical and does not account for the discrete nature of component availability.

Discretized optimization

For high volume and highly competitive markets. A discretized optimization may be the way to go, this usually involves more data processing, python scripts, optimization algorithms. This type of optimization accounts for the discrete nature of component availability over a large design space. 

SIMULATION FLOW

Moving from abstract models to high-fidelity SPICE simulations before manufacturing.

PHASE 1

High-Level simulation

The system equations are simulated and theoretical controls are designed to demonstrate concept feasibility for the application.

PHASE 2

Model
Development

Spice models are collected/created as needed for the components used in the detailed design.

PHASE 3

Detailed
SimulationDetailed Circuit Sim

Full simulation of the detailed design including stress and performance analysis.

PHASE 4

Extreme case simulation

Using a detailed model, extreme operating conditions and special cases are simulated. 

PHASE 5

Statistical analysis

When appropriate a Monte-Carlo analysis is performed to ensure there are no component tolerance issues.

DESIGNING FOR SUCCESS FROM DAY ONE

At Circuit Analytix, EMI and extreme-use-cases are not "afterthoughts" to be fixed in the lab. They are fundamental design requirements that must be addressed at the concept phase and managed throughout the design process.  Problems typically become more difficult and costly to resolve later in the design process The Circuit Analytix design process is designed to discover problems early and when a problem is discovered it is "fixed now."