ABSTRACT
The design of power electronics converters is still
an ad-hoc process. Usually, this process is
accomplished virtually using existing simulation
packages. Despite, the use of these packages, the
process is proved to be time consuming and bulky task
especially for beginning designers. This paper
describes an expert system approach to ease this
cumbersome process by automating the design task.
The present approach combines expert system
techniques with object-oriented paradigm. The user of
the software has firstly to choose the appropriate
application of the converter among a given list of
applications. Then the user has to pursue interaction
process to input the requirements and answer some
questions needed in order to come out with the most
appropriate topology that meets the entered
specifications. The topology suggested for the user is
formed in a schematic file accepted by the PSpice
simulation package. The topology is displayed within
Schematic environment containing all the circuit
parameters including the best (optimum) switching
devices and the control circuit. The topologies
constitute the knowledge base of the system, which, is
represented as objects. The switching devices are stored
in database module accessed by the inference engine to
select the optimum switch for a certain topology. This
approach could be considered as a kernel in developing
a power electronics converters design aid tool, whereby
the complexity of the design process can be reduced
dramatically.