Incorporation of inductors in piecewise approximate circuit simulation

Abstract

The incorporation of inductors in a piecewise approximate circuit simulator, enhancing the generality of such a tool, is presented. Most approximate timing simulators preclude inductors from the underlying circuit. Conventional simulators allow inductive effects, but are too inefficient to simulate very large circuits. The formulation presented allows the event-driven simulation of circuits containing inductors, capacitors and general nonlinear elements. The event processing algorithm is based on the conservation of flux and energy. The implementation was tested in a prototype addition to the SPECS simulation environment. In addition, the theory behind the incorporation of mutual inductors is presented. A few benchmarks were run to confirm the veracity of the model. Research into the automatic, dynamic determination of the optimum current resolution would cause the tool to be more efficient, as well as relieve the designer of choosing a current resolution for the inductors in the circuit.