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Duplicating One or More Objects

The Duplicate command (Ctrl+D or Home > Edit > Duplicate) makes a copy of the selected circuit group which can be dragged and positioned as desired. This is equivalent to selecting Copy and then Paste, except that the selected circuit portion is not placed on the clipboard for future use.

See the notes under Paste, on how connections are made when a group is placed in the circuit. Note that the duplicated objects can be rotated using the arrow keys on the keyboard. You can rotate objects and entire circuits.

Rotation on Paste and Duplicate

Any group of objects being Pasted or Duplicated can be rotated using the same controls as when placing a device:

• The Orientation (Ctrl+Q) command in Home > Operations toolbar.
• The arrow keys on the keyboard.

The Orientation command cannot be used for Paste or Duplicate since selecting this menu command will abort the paste operation.

Making a Circuit Read Only

You can make a circuit read-only to prevent accidental modification to it.

• Click an empty area of the schematic to ensure no objects are selected.
• Choose the Properties command in the Home > Operations menu. This displays the circuit infobox already described.

In this box, turn on the Read-Only switch. Note that this switch is enabled only when the Current Circuit button is selected since it only applies to one circuit level.

In a hierarchical design, the Read-Only status applies only to the current circuit level in a hierarchical design and to all levels below it. Note that Read-Only is not the same as Locked in that it allows you to view the circuit but not change it.

Setting Design Attributes

To edit text attributes associated with the design, you need to display the general design attribute editing box.

This can be done in either of these ways:

• Right-click an empty area of the schematic, and then choose the Properties command. This displays the circuit infobox already described. In this box, click the Design Attributes button.
• Select the Design Attributes command in the Options > Design toolbar.

For more information on the usage of attributes, see Entering Design Attributes.

Showing Circuit and Design Statistics

If no objects are selected in the circuit (i.e. if you have clicked an empty portion of the diagram) then the right-click Circuit Info command (or Ctrl+I)  displays this general design information box:

The buttons on the right-hand side of this box choose the scope of the displayed counts:

The following information is shown for the selected scope:

Placing and Editing Devices

Devices: Introduction

Devices are the building blocks of design. There are electrical (interconnected) devices and other special devices for setting simulation options or documentation.

This generic example shows interconnected devices:

• Devices are dragged in from the Parts Palette (can be turned on using View > Parts Library). Each device has a default orientation in its library.
• The orientation can be changed after placement in the circuit. Another technique is to double-click on the part name in the library and then drag into the design. The device becomes stuck to the mouse pointer and the arrow keys can be used to rotate before a single click for placement. Use the Spacebar or the Pointer tool to stop the sticking. Instead of using the arrow keys, the user can also hit Ctrl+Q and select the orientation.
• The orientation of the next dragged in device can be pre-selected or reset to default using Ctrl+Q.
• Once a device is positioned in a circuit it can be moved around using the mouse key or the keyboard arrow keys. When a device moves it tries to maintain existing connectivity, but this is a complex task and the user may have to redo connectivity manually under some conditions.
• A device may have no pins, one or more pins. A two-pin device is shown below. The left-pin or the pin close to the + sign is also called a k-pin. The right-pin or the other pin, is also called an m-pin. The plus + sign is used to provide polarity for power devices.

• Pins can be clicked to select. There is also a right-click menu.
• The design may have network devices: electrical devices or simulated devices recognized in HYPERSIM®. There are also various other types of devices. Subcircuits are considered as black box devices.
• A Symbol Editor function invoked through the device right-click menu Edit Symbol, can be used to edit (modify) a device’s symbol (drawing).
• Devices can be given extra functions through customized scripting.

Placing a Device from a Library

Devices are objects appearing in a design drawing. Some devices are recognized by HYPERSIM® computational engine and some other devices are used for manipulating data or only for drawing purposes. Although generally speaking everything on the screen is a placed object, a distinction must be made between devices, pins, signals, and text or picture objects.

The following diagram presents a visual summary of the most important objects appearing in a circuit drawing:

Devices can be selected from built-in or user-defined libraries.

To select a device from a library for placement in the schematic:

• Select the desired library using the Parts palette. The palette displays only the contents of only one library at a time. If the library file you need is not open, you can open it using the Open Library command (right-click on any library or Options > Libraries > Library Operations).
• Expand the desired library.
• Click the desired part name in the list, hold down the left mouse button and drag it into the current schematic window.

Holding the Ctrl key while clicking inhibits checking for pin connections. This selects the device again and drags it to a new position without affecting any existing connections.

Setting Device Orientation

Device symbols can be placed in any of 8 different orientations, that is, N, S, E, W, plus a 180 degree flip around each of those axes. The orientation that a symbol is placed in is determined by the current orientation setting.

This can be controlled in any of the following ways:

• The Orientation command (Ctrl+Q or Home > Operations > Orientation) sets the orientation (up, down, left, right, mirrored) that will be used next time a device is created. When this command is selected, the following box is displayed:

The orientation can be also set using the arrow keys on the keyboard when a Cut and Paste operation is performed. At the Past stage, the device is sticking to the mouse and its orientation is modifiable using the arrow keys.

You can also flip and rotate a device symbol after it has been placed in the schematic. See Flipping and Rotating a Device.

Using the Parts Palette

Library contents are displayed in a floating palette window:

• The Parts palette and the Find palette are both turned on in this example and the Parts palette is selected.
• The Parts palette displays the contents of the selected library file and allows any item to be selected for placement in the schematic.

Using the Part Name Filter

The Filter text box becomes available when the user clicks on the Parts by Library drop-down menu and selects All Parts.

The Filter text box types characters which filter and reduce the size of the list and make it easier to locate the desired part. Simply click the text box and type the desired characters. After a brief pause, the displayed part list is reduced to only those parts that contain the typed string of characters.

To return to the full selection, delete all characters from this box.

Creating or Editing a Part Symbol

To create or edit a part symbol, right-click the parts list area and select the New Part or Edit Part commands. The Symbol editor is documented in the Symbol Editor section. It is not allowed to edit parts or add parts into the existing libraries installed with the software, but only to user-defined libraries.

Hiding the Parts Palette

The Parts palette can be removed from the screen by clicking its close box. To re-display, the palette, select the View> Panels> Parts Library command.

Selecting a Device

To select a device, the cursor must be in the normal pointer mode. A single device is selected by clicking the mouse button with the pointer positioned anywhere inside the device symbol or in any displayed attribute value associated with the symbol.

Duplicating an Existing Device

To duplicate an existing device, either:

• Select a similar device anywhere on the current circuit page and use the Duplicate command (either in the Home > Edit menu or in the device pop-up menu or Ctrl+D). The device pop-up menu is available by right-clicking on the device. Use the Spacebar to exit the sticky mouse condition.
• Select a similar device in any other page of any open design and use the Copy command. Return to the destination circuit and select the Paste command.

Deleting a Device

Devices can be removed by either of these two methods:

• Select the device by clicking it and hit the Delete key on the keyboard, or select the Delete command from the Home > Edit menu.
• Enter Zap mode by selecting the Zap command (Home > Tools toolbar) or clicking the zap tool, then click the device in question. You can use this tool to delete several devices. To go back to the pointer mode, hit the Spacebar.

Moving a Device

Devices can be moved by either:

• Clicking and dragging to the desired new position, or,
• Using the arrow cursor keys on the keyboard to nudge the selected items one grid step at a time.

If more than one device is selected, all the devices and all signals connecting between them (whether or not selected) will be moved. Signal lines will be adjusted to maintain right angles at points where moving signal lines intersect with non-moving ones.

Flipping and Rotating a Device

A set of four commands for flipping and rotating an existing device symbol can be found in the device pop-up menu, i.e. by right-clicking on the device. The Rotate Left/Right and Flip Vertical/Horizontal commands are equivalent to deleting the selected device and replacing it in the selected new orientation.

Displaying and Setting Device Information

When a device is placed into a drawing it has in addition to its symbol several hotspots (separately selectable sections).

Some non-empty sections (attributes), such as the device name, are visible by default.

You can modify visible attribute position by first clicking on the device attribute and then clicking and holding the attribute while moving the mouse. You can also right-click on a given visible attribute to set other properties. In this version of HYPERSIM®, empty attributes do not keep their visibility bit.

Pins

Devices may also have pins, which are also separately selectable by clicking. In this example, there are two pins. You can also right-click on a pin for pin data.

Device right-click menu

Devices have a right-click menu (right-click on the device symbol):

The above menu items are listed below:

Forms

You can access the device parameter forms window either by double-clicking on the device or by right-clicking on it and clicking Open Parameters Form. This window allows the user to change the parameters defining the behavior and properties of the device during a simulation. For example, in the case of an RLC component the user can specify the R, L and C values for each phase along with the base voltage, frequency, and MVA:

To change a parameter value, click on the desired field and edit the value. To save the changes, click Apply. To revert the current changes, click Revert. To exit this window without saving any changes, click Cancel. To exit this window and apply the changes, click OK.

Instead of providing a value, the user can specify an expression. An expression should always starts with =. Common mathematical functions such as sin, cos, sqrt, exp, log are available. In order for the expression to be evaluated, click Apply.

The following figure shows some possible use of expression within a parameter form, before and after pressing apply:

You can change the unit system (PQ, PU or SI), the prefix multiplier (from pico to tera), the notation and the precision by right-clicking on any unit, as shown here:

The Sensors tab of this window is available either by double-clicking on the device and clicking on the Sensors tab or by right-clicking on the device and clicking Open Sensors Form. This form allows select the signals that need to be acquired during the simulation (for example using the ScopeView software). To do so, simply check the corresponding checkboxes. It is also possible to specify the I/O Type (DO, DI, AD, DA…) and I/O Number to use along with the I/O Factor (ie. Gain).

Device info

When a normal device symbol is selected on the schematic (i.e. not a pseudo-device), then the following information box is displayed using Ctrl+I or the Properties command:

The following table lists the information and options available in this box.