EE.dale Icons
EE.dale provides a number of special icons that are useful in displaying values at selected nodes, driving selected nodes, and controlling the execution of THYME, SPICE and MINT. These consist of circuit components, probes, signal generators, and the Panel. A user gets these icons into his design by doing a CDBringOver of the library file EE.dale. The Panel is special in that it must be included at the top level of the schematic to be simulated.
Circuit Components
These consist of the basic components Resistor, Inductor, and Capacitor. The default value of the resistor is 1 KOhm, but it may be modified by putting an instance satellite on the icon. For instance, the satellite R ← 0.01 sets the value to 10 Ohms (the units are in KOhms). The default value of the capacitor is 1.0pF, and the name of the capacitor variable is C (the units are pF). The default value of the inductor is 1.0mH, and the inductor variable is L (units are mH).
Added Circuit Components
Diode, Coupled Inductors, Lossless Line, four Linear Sources (VCCS, VCVS, CCCS, ccvs) were added to the existing cells to cope with the Spice capabilities.
Probes
Probe icons are used to indicate that particular voltages or currents in the circuit should be plotted by the various simulators. There are two probe icons: VProbe, and IProbe.
VProbe is a one terminal device whose active terminal is attached to the node whose voltage is to be plotted (for the EE buffs, there is an implicit ground terminal internal to the probe's definition). VProbe takes one parameter, scale. Assigning to scale via an instance satellite causes the displayed voltage to be scaled by this factor (the default value of scale is 1.0).
IProbe is a two terminal device that is placed in series with the branch whose current is to be measured. In contrast with VProbe, IProbe results in putting a real component into the circuit to be simulated. This real component is either a 0 Volt voltage source or a resistor, depending on the value of the parameter R (for internal resistance). If R < 0.001KOhm then the component is a 0 Volt voltage source, otherwise it is an R KOhm resistor. IMeter also takes the parameter scale, which causes the displayed current to be scaled by this factor.
Signal Generators
Signal generator icons provide a way to drive circuit nodes with appropriate signals. There are four signal generators defined: Voltage, Step, Pulse, and RectWave.
The Voltage signal generator provides a source of DC voltage. The value of the voltage is set by the parameter onLevel with units Volts and default value 5.0.
The Step signal generator provides a step function. The low and high values of the step are set by the parameters offLevel and onLevel (both Volts, and default values 0.0 and 5.0). The step may be given a rise time, controlled by the parameter tRise (units nS, default value 5.0). The start of the step occurs at the time specified by the parameter tDelay (units nS, default value 10.0).
The Pulse signal generator provides a pulse function. The low and high values of the step are set by the parameters offLevel and onLevel (both Volts, and default values 0.0 and 5.0). The pulse may be given rise and fall times, controlled by the parameters tRise and tFall (units nS, default values 5.0). The start of the pulse occurs at the time specified by the parameter tDelay (units nS, default value 10.0), and its width is controlled by width (units nS, default 50.0). Note that the width of the pulse is from the instant the pulse departs from the offLevel to the instant it returns to this level.
The RectWave signal generator provides a periodic rectangular wave. The low and high values of the wave are set by the parameters offLevel and onLevel (both Volts, and default values 0.0 and 5.0). The wave may be given rise and fall times, controlled by the parameters tRise and tFall (units nS, default values 5.0). The start of the onLevel occurs at the time (within the period) specified by the parameter tDelay (units nS, default value 10.0), and its width is controlled by width (units nS, default 50.0). Note that the width of the on period is from the instant the pulse departs from the offLevel to the instant it returns to this level. The period is controlled by the parameter period (units nS, default 100.0).
Panel
The Panel icon allows the user to control certain global simulation parameters. These include the graph title, the simulation start time, the simulation stop time, and the scales on the vertical and horizontal axes. It is mandatory to include a Panel inside the top level cell to be simulated by Thyme.