WEBENCH^® Help Information

Start

Click on the "Power" tab in the WEBENCH Designer entry panel on the right side of the page. Then enter your input voltage range, output voltage, load current and ambient temperature. Click on the "Start Design" button to begin using WEBNECH for a single power supply. Click on the "Power Architect" button to design a multiple load power supply system.

Software Loading

A new window will open showing the launch status of WEBENCH designer. This may take from 30 to 60 seconds to load depending on your internet connection speed and processor power. WEBENCH requires Adobe Flash to run. If you do not have Flash installed on your system, WEBENCH Designer will prompt you to install it.

Visualizer - Navigation Icons

This is the WEBENCH Visualizer page. At the top of this page is a row of navigation icons. The icon with red text is the current step. Other icons show alternative steps that you can access. In this case:

1. The "New" button goes to an entry panel to enter new design parameters.
2. The "Solutions" button goes to a page that shows other parts which may work for your design but are not necessarily enabled for WEBENCH Designer.
3. The "Assistance" button allows you to access additional information and help, submit feedback or view the disclaimer.

Visualizer - Select Your Best Solution

On the Visualizer page, click on the "Open Design" button next to your desired solution. WEBENCH Designer will then calculate the bill of materials (BOM) and schematic for your design. Each part has a listing of WEBENCH features in the WEBENCH Tools column as follows:

• CC shows whether a Circuit Calculator is available for the solution.
• The thermometer shows if WebTHERM thermal simulation is available for the solution.
• The sine wave shows if electrical simulation is available for the solution.
• The shopping cart shows if the Build It custom prototype kit is available for the solution.
• The blue CAD and schematic shows if export is available for the solution.

(Not all features are available for all parts).

For additional expert help on the WEBENCH^® Visualizer, see here

Design Summary - Right Panels

The design summary page is the home base for WEBENCH Designer. From here you can navigate to other pages by either clicking on a navigation icon at the top of the page, or clicking on a panel within the page. The panel navigation is as follows:

1. The "Charts" panel shows graphs of key operating values as they vary over input voltage and load current. This includes efficiency, duty cycle, currents, power dissipation, and phase margin among others.
2. The "Schematic" panel goes to the schematic for the design
3. The "Optimize" panel allows the design to be optimized for small footprint, high efficiency and low cost by turning a simple knob. The page shows graphs of key parameters for different optimization settings so you can immediately see the footprint, efficiency and cost for different knob settings.
4. The "Op Vals" panel shows a table of key operating values similar to the charts. You can change the input voltage and load current to see the effect on parameters such as efficiency, duty cycle, currents, power dissipation and phase margin. In some cases, specialized graphs of features are shown such as LED thermal foldback, LED triac dimming, etc.
5. The "BOM" panel shows the bill of materials for your design. You can view the manufacturers, part numbers and parametric values for the components. You can also change components within the design including entering a custom component if desired.
6. The "Sim" button goes to the electrical simulation page. Here you can conduct simulations to view the dynamic behavior of the circuit. Simulations include Bode Plot, steady state, startup, input transient and load transient among others.
7. The Your Complete Design panel has useful links to get samples, buy parts, download CAD files and get reports for your design.

Design Summary - Navigation Icons

After your design is created, you will be taken to the WEBENCH summary page. At the top of this page there are a set of navigation icons which allow you to go between steps. These are as follows:

1. The "Back" button goes to the prior step.
2. The "New" button goes to an entry panel to enter new design parameters.
3. The "Solutions" button goes to a page that shows other parts which may work for your design but are not necessarily enabled for WEBENCH Designer.
4. The "Visualizer" button goes to a page to which shows different WEBENCH solutions for your input requirements. You can create a new design using another regulator and set of components.
5. The "BOM" button shows the bill of materials for your design. You can view the manufacturers, part numbers and parametric values for the components. You can also change components within the design including entering a custom component if desired.
6. The "Charts" button shows graphs of key operating values as they vary over input voltage and load current. This includes efficiency, duty cycle, currents, power dissipation, and phase margin among others.
7. The "Schematic" button goes to the schematic for the design
8. The "Optimize" button allows the design to be optimized for small footprint, high efficiency and low cost by turning a simple knob. The page shows graphs of key parameters for different optimization settings so you can immediately see the footprint, efficiency and cost for different knob settings.
9. The "Op Vals" button shows a table of key operating values similar to the charts. You can change the input voltage and load current to see the effect on parameters such as efficiency, duty cycle, currents, power dissipation and phase margin. In some cases, specialized graphs of features are shown such as LED thermal foldback, LED triac dimming, etc.
10. The "Sim" button goes to the electrical simulation page. Here you can conduct simulations to view the dynamic behavior of the circuit. Simulations include Bode Plot, steady state, startup, input transient and load transient among others.
11. The "Thermal" button goes to the thermal simulation page. This allows you to run thermal simulations of the printed circuit board for your design to identify and troubleshoot thermal problems. You can modify environmental parameters such as input voltage, load current, ambient temperature, copper thickness and airflow. A colored thermal map is displayed after the simulation is completed. Please note that this feature is not available for all designs in WEBENCH.
12. The "Build It" button goes to a page which allows you to order a custom prototype kit for your design. You can also download CAD files and Gerber files. This feature, like thermal simulation, is not available for all designs in WEBENCH.
13. The "CAD Export" button allows you to export your complete schematic to several popular CAD tool formats.
14. The "Print" button generates a report for your design which includes the schematic, bill of materials and charts, among other documentation.
15. The "Share Design" button allows you to share your design with others via email.
16. The "Assistant" button brings up a window where you can submit feedback, get more help or view the disclaimers.

Design Summary - Left Panels

The optimization knob is very helpful to quickly change components that achieve your goals.

Design Summary - Top Bar and Controls

You can use the "My Designs/Projects" to get to designs you have done previously. At the very top you can also easily change the language to whichever you prefer.

Downloading Altium Files

Altium files are available for parts that have Build It enabled. This is indicated by a shopping cart icon on the Visualizer page. After creating the design, click on the Build It button in the WEBENCH navigation bar. Then click on the link to download the file.

Why WEBENCH Can't Find a Solution for Some Inputs

Enter design parameters

Show why solution was not found

Why WEBENCH can't find a solution

Changing Copper Thickness in WebTHERM™

The WebTHERM online tool simulates the thermal behavior of an electronic printed circuit board with components. There are controls for the board orientation, edge temperature, and airflow direction and speed, which allow the user to adjust parameters for the simulation.

After entering the desired parameters for simulation, click "Run Simulation" the submit the simulation job. A simulation typically takes two to three minutes to complete, excluding queue time. After the simulation is complete, the user can view the result, a full color plot of the temperature across the board.

Adding a Custom Part to a WEBENCH^® Design

If you can't find the passive component you need in your WEBENCH design, you can manually add a custom component with your own specifications.

From the BOM page, select the component you need to change

If you don't see the component you need in the list, click on the Custom button

How to Retrieve a WEBENCH Design

WEBENCH designs are stored on the server and can be retrieved at a later time. In addition, projects done in WEBENCH Power Architect consisting of multiple designs can also be retrieved. This can be done from http://www.ti.com by going to the WEBENCH panel on the right side of the page and clicking on the MyDesigns link.

This page shows a listing of your designs, WEBENCH Power Architect projects, shared designs and shared projects. Click on the appropriate tab in the upper left to list them. On the right side of the page, click on the Power Designer button to open the design/project. You can also rename, delete or generate a design report by clicking on the corresponding link on the right.

You can also retrieve your designs and WEBENCH Power Architect Projects from within the WEBENCH Designer application by clicking on the MyDesigns/Projects link in the upper left of any page. Click on the appropriate tab in the upper left of the resulting page to list your designs or WEBENCH Power Architect projects. Double click on a row to open it, or use the icons on the right to open, share, copy or delete the design or project.