Entering Device Attributes

Device attributes are part of the open architecture feature of HYPERSIM®. They can be manipulated for advanced usage functions. Device attributes are normally maintained by high-level data input functions available to the user. It may be convenient to modify them manually in some cases.

To enter device attributes right-click the device, then select the Attributes command in the pop-up menu. 

Device Attribute probe

The Attribute Probe tool (also called sniffer) can be used to provide quick info on the device. To activate this option, click the Attribute Probe tool (Home>Tools) and then single-click any device. The spacebar deactivates.

This is a script based tool; the scripts are named in the initialization file (see Attribute Probe Scripts in [Drawing] section, in the INI reference guide).

Device Naming & Device Names

Adding a Device Name by Typing on the Schematic

Enter Name mode either by clicking on the Name tool (Home>Tools) in or by double-clicking the shown name.

If the name is not visible and you wish to determine the starting position of the text before you type it, press and hold the mouse button with the tip of the pencil positioned inside a device symbol. As long as you hold the mouse button down an I-beam cursor tracks the mouse movements.

The device name text starts at the position where you release the button. Type the desired name and press Enter, or click the mouse button anywhere. Note that if the device name is already visible this method creates another copy of the name on the screen. You can hide the extra copy by right-clicking it and selecting Hide.

Adding a Device Name Using a Menu Command

The name can be set by double-clicking on the already visible name or by right-clicking on the device symbol and selecting the Name option. This command displays a simple edit box allowing you to enter or edit the device name. The Visible option in this box allows you to select whether the name is made visible on the schematic or simply kept as an invisible text attribute of the device.

Repositioning or Removing a Name

Once a name is placed, it can be repositioned by dragging it using the Point cursor or removed using the Zap (Zap tool, Home> Tools> Zap or Ctrl+H) cursor. The device name will be removed automatically if the device is removed. Holding the Shift+Ctrl keys depressed while moving a name (or any attribute value) disables the grid snap, allowing you to micro-position the name for alignment with other graphic items on the schematic.

Device Naming Options

Selecting the Device Naming Options command from Options>Naming Options displays this box for device Auto-name options:

Setting the Auto-Generated Name Format

An auto-generated device name consists of two parts, the fixed prefix, and the numeric suffix.

The prefix portion is derived from one of two sources:

• The device's Name.Prefix attribute field, or if that is empty,
• The value set using the Device Naming Options menu command shown above.

The numeric suffix is assigned sequentially for each different prefix found in the design. The names R1, R2, R3, etc. are assigned to devices with the value R in their prefix field, and the names Tr1, Tr2, Tr3, etc. for devices having prefix Tr.

The default device prefix field is Name.Prefix. This can be changed by entering the name of any other field in the design's PrefixField field (Design attributes, use the right-click menu on the design). As an advanced option, you can change the PrefixField field and use a different device prefix field when changing the design type.

Reassign Names

The Reassign Names command is available from Options> Naming Options.

The Reassign Device Names command assigns a new name to all devices in the current circuit that are unnamed or have a default name. It is intended as a quick means of tidying up automatically-assigned names when a circuit is created or edited.

Names edited by the user are no longer considered default names and are not changed.

• Devices that are explicitly set to be Unnamed will also become named using the $NONAME keyword (becomes used as a prefix) discussed in Specifying that a Device Should be Unnamed When Placed.

Setting the Name Prefix for a Device

The name prefix is set by filling in the appropriate device attribute field Name.Prefix. It can be done after placing the device in the design or by editing the device symbol when it is in its library. In the first case, the name starts changing after changing Name.Prefix, in the second case it will appear with the desired prefix immediately after dragging in from the library.

See Setting Part Attributes for more information on using this command.

Specifying that a Device Should be Unnamed When Placed

In some cases it may be desirable to have a device remain unnamed when it is placed on a schematic. An example might be a simulation option device that is used as data input function for some global information on design parameters.
The keyword $NONAME can be placed in the Name.Prefix field in a device symbol to indicate that no name should be assigned when the symbol is placed in the diagram.

Overriding Default Name visibility

Normally, when a device is placed on the schematic, its name will be made visible when the values are automatically assigned. This can be turned off globally using the Device Naming Options command. In some cases, it may be desirable to override this for specific devices.

To override the default visibility for a device:

• Open the device in the symbol editor: right-click the device name in the Parts palette and select Edit Part or right-click the device in the schematic and select Edit Symbol.
• Select the Part Attributes command in the Operations toolbar.
• Select the attribute field in question: Name.
• Enter a dummy value in the value text box. This value will be overwritten by the packager in any case, but a non-empty value must be placed here to force the attribute field settings to be stored with the symbol.
• Select the Always Visible or Never Visible option, as desired.
• Click OK.
• Resave the part.

Device Token Values

Every time a device is created in an HYPERSIM® circuit, it is assigned an integer value known as its token (See Token number from device right-click menu Properties). The token number stays with the device for its lifetime and numbers are not re-used. This ensures that a given device can always be recognized despite duplicate names or name changes.

The token is used for a number of internal operations in HYPERSIM®, but can also be seen by the user in the following circumstances:

• The token number is displayed in the Device_info box.
• The token number can be written out in Netlists whenever a guaranteed-unique identifier is needed.

Note the following characteristics of tokens:

Tokens are assigned independently for each circuit in a hierarchical design and are thus only unique within a circuit, not across the entire design.
Each logical symbol on the diagram (including pseudo-devices) has its own token. In a Netlist, several symbols may be combined into a single package, so there is not necessarily a one-to-one correspondence between tokens and physical packages.

Device Date Stamping

• Date stamping is a mechanism that automatically marks devices with a time value when created.
• The date stamp is stored using the system’s internal integer date format, that is, an unsigned integer representing the number of seconds since January 1, 1970. When a device is created or undergoes any major editing operation, the current time value is converted to a decimal string and assigned to the DateStamp.Dev attribute field. To create a more human-readable date value, the Export tool has date conversion functions available.
• See more information on date conversions in report scripts, see the section Date and Time References in Export Script Language

Disabling Date Stamping

The date stamping process incurs a small overhead in processing time and memory space. If you are not using this feature and wish to disable all internal processing related to it, you can place the following line in the initialization file under the [drawing] section:
NODATESTAMP

• This will take effect the next time you start the HYPERSIM® program.
• See Device date stamping in INI file in the [Drawing] section (Reference Guide INI).

Devices Recognized in HYPERSIM®

• The primitive devices are recognized in HYPERSIM® using the Part device attribute. The primitive devices can be of power type or control type. A power type device is for modeling an actual physical electrical component. A primitive control type device is a block diagram device. It is a higher-level device that can be used to simulate actual control system behavior or for creating electrical network models using function blocks.
• Power type devices are devices with power pins.
• Control type devices are devices with control pins. The control type devices are interfaced with power type devices using sensors (meters) and actuators.

A control component is built-in HYPERSIM® as a directed graph containing elements joined by oriented signals, together forming a block-diagram description of the component to be represented.

An example is given by:

Device pin types

There are currently 3 pin types (also called Pin Functions): Power-pin, Input-pin and Output-pin. The Power-pin is for power devices. A control device may have input pins and/or output pins. Signals connected to control device pins are control signals and do not connect to power pins directly, meter (sensor) functions are needed. An example of a sensor taken from the Network Measurements library is shown in the figure below. It has a power pin that allows connecting to a power signal. It also has an output pin that allows connecting into a control device.

The control pins are most often shown with an arrow symbol for showing directionality. The current version of HYPERSIM® does not automatically provide this functionality when subcircuits are used.

Some devices may have control and power pins.

This is the case of the controlled Controlled current source:

• It has two power pins and one control pin used to control the source.
• Subcircuits may have mixed pin types. Signals connected to output pins can only connect to input pins.
• Pins that can be interconnected are called compatible pins.
• Device pin settings are made during the device creation using the Symbol Editor.
• HYPERSIM® performs automatic checking for compatible pin types when connecting pins through signals. This checking is not available when virtual connections are used (see Connecting Signals by Name).

Built-in libraries

The available libraries are based on primitive devices and masked devices. The primitive devices are directly recognized in HYPERSIM®. The masked devices are based on subcircuits created from primitive devices used as building blocks. Users can build their own masked devices using primitive devices or available masked devices, or using UCM programming methods.

• All primitive devices have a Help tab for detailed documentation on the model and model usage.
• Most masked devices have documentation available in the mask; you can also access the contents of a subcircuit for more documentation on its design and functionalities.
• You may also use the Attribute Probe Home>Tools to get quick functional information about a device.
• Some subcircuits may be locked; you can unlock them using the method described in Locking and Unlocking Subcircuits.

If you modify a device from this library after placing into the design, it will become different from its original library version and its functionality will be altered. See also Subcircuit Uniqueness and Encapsulation.

The built-in libraries are locked (the subcircuit file is read-only) to avoid corruption. If you want to create your own libraries you should place them in your work folders and maintain them separately. More information on libraries is available in Working with Symbol Libraries and Lib Maintenance.

Creating and Editing Signals

Signals

In HYPERSIM®, a signal represents the electrical connection between any numbers of device pins. A signal can simply be represented on a schematic by a single line or a number of connected line segments, or more complex structures such as connection by name, busses, bundles, phases or cross-page connectors and hierarchy blocks can be used to simplify the representation of large designs. In this chapter, we will look at simple signals and connection by name within a single circuit page. Bundles and multipage signal interconnection schemes are covered in Bundles and Inter-page Connections respectively.

Interconnecting Signals

If you draw a signal line such that the end of the line contacts a second signal line, then those two signals are interconnected. If both of the two signals being connected were named manually and not automatically, then you will be prompted to choose the name of the resulting signal. Whenever three or more line segments belonging to the same signal meet at a given point, an intersection dot will be placed at that point automatically.

In addition to connecting by drawing a signal, a device can be connected to a signal by moving the device near the signal and touching the signal with its compatible pin. This is called connect-by-proximity. Under some circumstances when entire circuit sections or devices are moved near or over other circuit sections, the connect-by-proximity can become a nuisance and can be turned off by holding down the Ctrl key after starting the move.

Drawing From an Existing Line or a Device Pin

A line can be extended from the end of an existing line or device pin using the normal cursor. Click and hold on the end of the pin and drag away from the pin. A pair of right-angle lines follow the cursor away from the pin and long as the mouse button is pressed. Releasing the mouse button makes these lines permanent. If the end of the line (i.e. the point where the mouse button was released) touches another signal line, a connection is made at that point.

Alternate line routing methods can be activated by pressing the Ctrl and Alt keys after starting to draw, as follows:

The Shift key constrains the movement to a single vertical or horizontal line. The Ctrl key inverts the order of line drawing, and the Alt key switches to three line segments with a center break.

Holding the Ctrl key while clicking will inhibit checking for pin connections. This allows you to select the signal again and drag it to a new position without affecting any existing connections.

Creating an Unconnected Signal Line

The Draw Signal cursor (Home>Tools) can be used to create an unattached signal line or can be used to extend an existing signal. Simply click anywhere in the schematic and drag away in the desired direction. Unlike the Point mode drawing method, above, the mouse button does not have to be held while creating signals in this mode. Double-clicking terminates the signal line.

Editing a Signal Line

The following features are available to edit signal lines:

Zap mode (entered by selecting the Zap command in Home>Tools) allows you to remove any single line segment from a signal connection. Zapping on a signal line removes only the line segment being pointed at and up to the nearest intersection, device pin or segment join point.

• Selecting a signal line (by clicking anywhere along its length) and hitting Delete or removes an entire signal trace.
• Drawing backward along the length of an existing line causes the line to be shortened to end at the point where you let the button go.
• Clicking and dragging the middle of a signal line segment with the pointer cursor allows you to reposition the line. Vertical lines can be moved horizontally and vice versa.
• The pointer cursor can be used to start drawing from the ends or corners of an existing signal.
• The Draw Signal cursor can be used to start drawing from anywhere along an existing signal line. Double-clicking terminates drawing.

Checking connectivity

• A single-click on a signal highlights the signal and shows its connectivity.
• Double-clicking anywhere along a signal line will cause that signal segment and all logically connected segments on the current page to be selected.
• Holding the Ctrl button and double-clicking a device selects the entire interconnected circuit, but not the virtually connected circuit (see Connecting Signals by Name). The selected circuit can be moved around using the mouse pointer (hold down any device and move) or the keyboard arrow keys.
• You can also use the Pin List command in the signal pop-up menu (by right-clicking the signal) to view the list of pins attached to the signal and go to any of them. This command displays a list of all device pin connections comprising the selected signal. Only pins in the current circuit are listed; pin connections in other hierarchy levels are not shown.

Selecting any item in the pin list and clicking on the Go To button will cause the appropriate page to be opened (if necessary) and that pin to be displayed in the center of the circuit window. If the selected pin is invisible (e.g. a bundle internal pin) the window will be centered on the parent bundle pin.

For convenience in navigating a schematic, connections to pseudo-devices such as bundle breakouts and ground symbols are also shown in this list. In this sense, the list is not a logical Netlist, but rather a method for checking connectivity and navigating the diagram.

Each item in the pin list is formatted as follows:

• For normal devices: device-pin 
• For pseudo devices: device type 

The elements of this format are as follows:

Setting Signal Color

To select an individual color for a single signal line, right-click on the line and select the Color command in the popup menu. This setting will override the default signal color, which is determined by settings in the initialization file. To return a signal to the default color, select the Color command again and click the Default button.

Selecting a Signal

A single signal is selected by clicking anywhere along the signal line. This selects only the part of the signal directly attached to the clicked line. Double-clicking the signal selects all parts of the signal on the given page including logical connections by name or bundle.

Selecting a Pin

A pin is selected by clicking the pin line close to the device.

Since an unconnected device pin is both a pin and a signal, you determine whether you get the pin or signal pop-up menu as follows:

• Right-clicking the pin in the last 1/4 of the pin length away from the device displays the signal menu.
• Right-clicking the pin close to the device symbol displays the pin menu.

Pin right-click menu

The pin right-click menu has the following commands:

Signal right-click menu

The signal right-click menu has the following commands:

Signal Info

Selecting the Properties command (right-click menu) with a signal selected displays the following box:

Every time a device or signal is created in a circuit, it is assigned an integer value known as its token. The Token Number stays with the device or signal for its lifetime and numbers are not re-used. This ensures that a given device or signal can always be recognized despite duplicate names or name changes.

The token is used for a number of internal operations in HYPERSIM®, but can also be seen by the user in the following circumstances:

• The token number is used to generate default names for devices and signals, as described elsewhere is this chapter.
• The token number can be written out in Netlists or bills of materials whenever a guaranteed-unique identifier is needed.

Note these characteristics of tokens:

• Tokens are assigned independently for each circuit in a hierarchical design and are thus only unique within a circuit, not across the entire design.
• When two signals are joined, one of the two tokens is discarded at random.

Each logical symbol on the diagram (including pseudo-devices) has its own token.

Signal Parameters

This command from the right-click signal menu can be used to enter extra information for the selected signal. Help is available in the help tab of this command data web.

Signal and Pin Attribute probe

The Attribute Probe tool (also called sniffer, Home>Tools) can be used to provide quick info on signals and pins. To activate this option, it is needed to click the Attribute Probe tool and then single-click any signal or pin. The spacebar deactivates.

This is a script based tool; the scripts are named in the initialization file. (see Attribute Probe Script in the [Drawing] section).

Signal Line Type

Each signal has a right-click menu item Line Type.

The default signal is called a general signal. It is a 1-phase signal. It can be drawn by starting from an existing signal or device pin or by using the Draw signal tool (see Home>Tools). This circuit is created using only the General Signal line type.

If any signal of the above circuit is selected and its Line Type is changed to 3-Phase Signal, then HYPERSIM® will propagate the new setting through the entire interconnected circuit.

• This propagation is only acceptable if all interconnected devices accept the new phase setting, an error message will result otherwise. The user can go back by selecting Undo (Ctrl+Z), the 1-phase devices will become otherwise disconnected in the Netlist and errors may occur.
• Some power devices have pins that accept only 1-phase or 3-phase signals.
• Devices that can become 3-phase will automatically adjust the data input functions to allow entering 3-phase data. A 3-phase signal internally carries 3 names, one for each phase. For the signal SOURCE shown in the figure above, the internal names are SOURCEa, SOURCEb and SOURCEc. The same is done for device names. A 3-phase device can be decoupled or internally coupled.
• It is allowed to move back to the 1-phase version of a signal, again using the signal Line Type option.
• A control signal can only be a general signal. A power signal can be a: 3-Phase Signal, 3-Phase Bus, Phase A signal, Phase B signal or Phase C signal.
• The signal drawn from a pin takes its phase property. The user can also create separate signals using the signal drawing tool Draw 3-phase Bus (see Home>Tools>Draw Signal). A 3-phase bus can only connect to 3-phase signals. It is also allowed connecting to individual phases:

Phase signals are drawn using the phase signal commands (Home>Tools>Draw Signal). Phase signals can be also created by converting a 3-phase signal line type to Phase A (or B or C) type.

The 3-phase bus acts as a signal concentrator; it has only one name, but appends the phase character to each phase signal, such BUS1a, BUS1b and BUS1c. If a phase name is changed then the parent bus name is also changed.

If a phase signal is drawn separately in a design using the Draw Phase tool, then its name is internally concatenated with the phase character.

In this example:

the actual signal name is BLUEb.

Connecting Signals by Name

Signal names can be used to make logical connections between wires that are not visually connected on the schematic. Like-named signal traces on a single page are logically connected for simulation and netlisting purposes. Whenever a signal name is added or changed, the circuit is checked for a change in connectivity. If the name is now the same as another signal on this page, the two signals are merged into one. If this signal segment was previously connected by name to others and the name is changed, then the logical connection is broken.

• Connection by name is also applicable across design pages.
• Connection by name is also called a virtual or logical connection.
• In this example, the top pin of the source AC1 is connected to the positive pin of RLC1 using the signal name SOURCE. If you double-click on the SOURCE signal it will show its virtual connectivity.

To undo connection by name it is not sufficient to hide a signal name. In the example below the two current sources have their positive pins connected by name.

If you hide the name za on the signal of AC2, the connection will still remain in the subsequently generated Netlist.

Two actions can be taken to ensure disconnection:

• Hide the name and reroute the signal (see figure below).
• Change the signal name to another name, a name that does not exist in your design. For example, za can be renamed to za_. Then hide the name.

It is recommended to verify the signal name (Name edition panel) after hiding it, to make sure that the disconnection has worked.

• Generally speaking it is not very useful to name individual signals manually and to make them visible, unless you need to create a special reference or apply connection by name. Most designs can be carried on without naming any signal. The power system bus name is on by default since in this case the name is a useful reference in the power network diagram.
• Instead of using signal names for connecting by name, another strongly recommended approach is to use page connectors. This approach is more robust and less user error-prone if the user decides to hide signal names and disconnect signals connected by name.
• Page connectors can be used for connecting signals between pages or signals appearing on the same page. The example shown above is now shown using page connectors.

• This approach is more robust and provides visual location feedback (automatic display of page references) on the locations of connected signals. In this case it indicates that 1-A3 (coordinates using design sheet border numbers) the connected signal is found on page 1 at the geographical location A3. The same applies to all pages connectors. The connection is created using the same name for the two page connectors. Two or more page connectors can be used.
• The page connector devices are found in the library Signal Routing. The page connector is named using the right-click menu Name.
• To turn on the visual location feedback it is needed to go to the menu Options> Design> Design Preferences and select the Page Refs tab. In this tab the checkbox Enable Automatic Page References must be checked.
• A right-click menu item Properties on the page connector device allows using a Go-To button to jump between connected page connectors.
• You must clearly understand the rules and consequences of maintaining signal names before heavy usage of such methods. The case of signal names in bundles is more complex and it should be avoided when possible.

Naming Signals

The name associated with a signal can be placed anywhere on the diagram and will be removed if the object is removed. You can click on the name to highlight the associated signal or click on the signal to highlight the associated name. By default all signal names are invisible.
A signal name must be visible to keep its name. The current version of HYPERSIM has the freedom to change user given signal names during rerouting if not visible. HYPERSIM maintains a default signal naming system.

Generally speaking, it is not very useful to name individual signals manually and to make them visible, unless you need to create a special reference or apply connection by name. Most designs can be carried on without naming any signal. The power system bus name is on by default since in this case, the name is a useful reference in the power network diagram.

You must clearly understand the rules and consequences of maintaining signal names before heavy usage of such methods. The case of signal names in bundles is more complex and it should be avoided when possible.

• Scopes for simulation waveform visualization are based on device names and not signal names.
• Signals connected to control (input or output) pins are control signals. Signals connected to power pins are power signals.

Reserved signal names

The currently reserved power pin signal name is GND. This is only true for power signals.

For control devices, the currently reserved signal name is the number 0. If an input signal is given the name 0 then it will take the value 0 for the entire simulation.

If an input signal (connected to an input pin) is not connected to any output signal, HYPERSIM® assumes that its value is always zero.

Signal connector devices

The user can create signal connector devices using the Symbol Editor. This is useful for making connections by fixing a given signal name through the pin name. In this example the fixed signal name is SOURCE:

Entering and editing a Signal Name

• Enter Naming mode either by right-clicking on the signal and selecting Name or by clicking on the Name tool in Home >Tools > Name.
• Once the Name tool command is selected, the cursor changes to a pencil icon.
• Press and hold the mouse button with the tip of the pencil positioned anywhere along a signal line except within 5 screen dots of a device. As long as you hold the mouse button down an I-beam cursor will track the mouse movements. The signal name text will start at the position where you release the button. Type the desired name and press Enter or click the mouse button anywhere.
• When a signal name is visible, you can double-click it to open the Name edition panel:

The following options are available:

Moving a Signal Name

A signal name can be moved by selecting the pointer (normal) cursor, clicking and holding the mouse button on the name, and dragging it to the desired new position. Holding the Ctrl and Shift keys depressed while moving a name (or any attribute value) disables the grid snap, allowing you to micro-position the name for alignment with other graphic items on the schematic.

The Name is actually an attribute field, so all attribute editing techniques can be used on it.

Multiple Naming of Signals

A signal name can appear in up to 100 positions along the length of a signal line.

To add a new position, simply use the normal naming procedure given in the section on signal naming:

• Select Name mode (using the Naming tool)
• Click and drag anywhere along the signal line
• With the mouse button pressed, move to the desired position for the name
• Release the mouse button

A new copy of the signal’s name will appear at this point followed by a flashing cursor. To accept the name, click the mouse button once or press the Enter key. If you edit any occurrence of a name along a signal segment, all other occurrences will be updated to reflect the new name.

Any occurrence of a signal name can be removed using the Zap cursor (Home>Tools) or Hide in the right-click menu. If you remove the last visible name from a signal segment then the logical connectivity to other like-named signals is removed.