Description
PLECS Blockset
The Power Electronics Toolbox for Simulink
PLECS Blockset is a unique tool for the fast simulation of power electronic circuits within the Simulink environment. It allows combined simulations of electrical circuits modeled in PLECS with controls modeled in Simulink.
PLECS Circuit Block
Each PLECS circuit is represented in a Simulink model as an individual block. The user can feed signals into the block to control electrical sources or switch devices. Measurements taken inside the PLECS Circuit block are accessible at the block’s outputs. Measurements can be displayed in a scope, post-processed in MATLAB, or used to control the system. PLECS Blockset users can take advantage of the entire Simulink library and the various extensions to model special controls or other physical domains.
Intuitive Schematic Editor
Those familiar with Simulink will be comfortable with the PLECS schematic editor right away. A double-click on a PLECS Circuit block opens the schematic editor window, and clicking and dragging is used to place components and create connections with the same ease as in Simulink.
To define the interface of a PLECS Circuit block, simply drag input and output blocks into the schematic. In fact, in many ways a PLECS Circuit block behaves just like a regular Simulink subsystem and is treated natively by the Simulink solvers. Additionally, the user can define subsystems (circuits within another circuit) to hide complexity or create custom and reusable components.
Use of Simulink Solver
At the start of a simulation the PLECS circuit is converted on the fly into a set of equivalent equations. Rather than relying on co-simulation, the Simulink engine itself solves the equations alongside the control system designed in Simulink. PLECS Blockset offers full compatibility with simulation settings, supporting both variable- and fixed time-step solvers.
System Requirements
Platform | MATLAB Version | Operating System |
---|---|---|
Windows | 9.2 … 9.14 | Windows 10 64-bit or newer |
Mac / Intel | 9.2 … 9.14 | macOS 10.15 or newer |
Linux | 9.2 … 9.14 | Kernel 2.6 64-bit/glibc 2.15/libX11 (aka Xlib) 6.2.1 or newer, libncurses5.x |
Processor: Intel compatible processor with x86-64 extension
Powerful Functional Design Tools
In addition to the modeling interface and component library, PLECS provides several tools to aid in the design and analysis of power electronic systems.
- During or after simulation, data is visualized in the PLECS Scope. Inspired by a real power electronics measurement and instrumentation system, the scope allows a user to extract the exact waveforms of interest as well as examine the data for post-processing and reporting.
- The built-in Analysis Tools are easily set up to provide steady-state operating points or open-loop and closed-loop transfer functions. Additionally, state space matrices of a system can be extracted for advanced analyses.
- Using Simulation Scripts the user can change parameters and invoke simulations or post-process output data and evaluate results.
- The separately available PLECS Coder can generate real-time C code from a circuit or block diagram created with PLECS Blockset.
Circuit using Electrical, Magnetic and Thermal Domains

The above PLECS circuit models a flyback converter with two secondary outputs. The losses of the main switch and the transformer are captured by a virtual heat sink and coupled into the thermal domain for temperature estimation. The transformer is represented by a magnetic equivalent circuit which models the B-H saturation curve of the core material.