Useful design software

[Bakmeel]

While reading a forum on a dutch aleph 5 project, I found several links to useful programmes and software on the internet. I couldn't resist and tell you guys about them... Perhaps it's old news, and maybe you know even more!

Tool 1 - A small excel sheet that can calculate the C/W value of a heatsink.

Tool 2 - A very nice piece of software that can simulate power supplies. Very handy if you want to calculate inrush currents, ripple, etc.

I'm sure there's more of this out there... who has more hints?

Bouke

[jwb]

RTools at http://rtheta.com/ is a great heat sink simulator. It can be hard to use, but it produces a wealth of information. I used it to design the forced air cooling in my Aleph-X. You can also easily get a quote once you have a heatsink solution you like.

[f4ier]

I use PSPICE for practically all my electronic simulation needs. I use it for modeling speaker enclosures as well.

For quick checks of hand-derived boolean expressions, that little Logic Converter of Workbench is really handy for drawing up circuits -- just type up the boolean expression and out comes a simulation-ready schematics diagram

There's this SPICE-based program that could input/output WAV files, but I can't remember its name

Speaking of schematics diagrams, I just found http://www.servicemanuals.net while searching for details about my old Discman. It might be worth a look for those searching for service manuals

[mbroker]

We've been using Circuitmaker 2000 Professional since about July. It has a few issues I don't care for, but seems to work very well. It does like to whine about iteration limits during some simulations, but generally it simulates very fast, and you don't have to select all the watch points first! The "parameter sweep" function is quite handy, too CM2k couples very well with their included PCB-software, Traxmaker.

The demo available online is the full version, but expires in 30 days, and supposedly cannot be "renewed" by reinstalling. The student version is limited to 60 parts, and doesn't have all the bells and whistles, like parameter sweep. The retail version is something like $1000USD.

Labcenter's Proteus package has a "file input" for simulating amplifiers As I recall, it took quite a few minutes on my Athlon 650 (this was 12 months ago) to simulate 2 or 3 seconds of a WAV file. It crashed my computer after the simulation completed, and I haven't used it again.

Cheers,
Mark Broker

[yves]

And my personal favourite of them all:

Switchercad III from Linear Technology.

www.linear.com/software

Does all spice simulations, reads in Pspice netlists
and comes with schematic capture.
Plus, it is extremely fast.
Ohh, it is also Free.

Yv

[roddyama]

This is a little dos based unit conversion program that I use all the time. It is the easiest and fastest way to convert units. No fumbling around with mouse point-n-click, just quick keystroke access. It is also the most comprhesive unit conversion file I've seen. It's a single small file (units.com)

Try it you'll like it.
Rodd Yamashita

[janneman]

Originally posted by f4ier
[snip]
There's this SPICE-based program that could input/output WAV files, but I can't remember its name

Proteus-VSM simulator from www.labcenter.co.uk

Jan Didden

[daatkins]

For amplifier THD & IMD type measureents, SpectraLAB from...
http://www.soundtechnology.com/

... is hard to beat. You need a good soundcard but even my SB Live 5.1 gives a residual THD figure of 0.003% so anything higher than that can be measured easily.

It's only a 30 day trial (about $1000 for the full version) so only download it when it's needed!

Nice one,
David.