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Building a Buck Converter

In this tutorial, you’ll build and save a power electronic circuit of a buck converter (step-down converter).

The diagram you’ll be reproducing is made up of eight blocks and their signals, and looks like this:


OPAL-RT's Schematic Editor helps users to build electrical diagrams for use in HYPERSIM or RT-LAB products.

  • From the File menu, click New to create a new circuit. 
  • From the Sources library, drag a Controlled Voltage Source onto the work area.
  • Do the same for the Meters Ammeter, leaving its settings in the Parameters sidebar at the default.
  • To access the Parameters sidebar, simply click on the block and it'll appear on the right side.
  • Rotate the Ammeter left 90 degrees (Edit > Rotate Counterclockwise or CTRL+SHIFT+R or using the small rotation handle in the top corner of the block).
  • Now we'll connect the Controlled Voltage Source with the Ammeter through their electrical ports, that is, the circles on each end.
  • To start, hover your mouse over the top electrical port (the circle) on the Controlled Voltage Source element. When it turns to a hand cursor, click and drag to the left electrical port of the Ammeter.
  • A blue signal line appears, connecting them.
  • Repeat the previous steps for the Ideal Switch and the Diode from the Switches library, rotating them as required.
  • Connect them as shown in the video below.
  • Repeat the previous steps for the Inductor, Capacitor, and Resistor from the Passive library, rotating them as required.
  • Connect them as shown in the video below
  • Repeat the previous steps for the Voltmeter from the Meters library. 
  • Connect the Voltmeter as shown in the video below

  • Set the Inductor parameter in the Parameters sidebar to 1.00e-3 Henry.
  • Set the Capacitor parameter in the Parameters sidebar to 2.00e-6 Farad.
  • Set the Resistor parameter in the Parameters sidebar to 12 ohms.
  • Save your circuit as Buck Converter



Note that this introductory tutorial doesn't include inputs/outputs.

See also: 











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