Question F.1: Use the KCIDE for Circuits platform to solve Example 3.2....

Opening the software, we see the screen shown in Fig. F.1, where we define a new project. Although we can name the project anyway we wish to, we name it KCIDE Example F-1 050626 (see Fig. F.2). Note that the last six digits are: year/month/day. The reason for this is that if we create different files corresponding to different dates, the files will always appear in chronological order.

We now enter the problem statement into the screen shown in Fig. F.3. After we have entered the problem statement, we can click on the button to Open PSpice. The next screen, Fig. F.4, shows what is seen when the Open PSpice button is clicked. To open the PSpice schematic capture, we need to click on the page 1 icon. In Schematic, we create the circuit representing our problem. This is shown in Fig. F.5.

We now need to enter all we know about the problem by entering our problem analysis into the text box and then identifying the number of unknown nodes and loops for the circuit (see Fig. F.6). We continue this process by going to the next screen and entering the requested information (see Fig. F.7).

We now proceed to selecting the method of solution. We do this by entering the requested information into the screen shown in Fig. F.8. Now we can develop the equations that will generate a solution for the problem. Since nodal analysis is required for the solution for the node voltages, all we need to do is to write the nodal equations. Once we have the appropriate equations, as shown in Fig. F.9, we can select a solution technique. In this case we chose Excel to solve our simultaneous equations.

Now, when we go to the next screen, the Evaluate portion of the solution, we actually open PSpice again. We need to open page 1 to retrieve our original circuit (see Fig. F.10). Once we have our original PSpice circuit, we need to prepare it for solving for our unknowns. The first step in this task is to go to the PSpice button and select New Simulation Profile (see Fig. F.11).

We next need to assign a name to the new simulation profile (Fig. F.12). Clicking on the Create button produces the screen shown in Fig. F.13. For this problem, we select Bias Point for the Analysis type.

Clicking on OK returns the screen to the original condition. Now we go to the PSpice button and select Run from the dropdown menu,

Fig. F.14. Running PSpice produces the screen shown in Fig. F.15. We can immediately see that the voltages agree with the solution we obtained by using nodal analysis. Clicking on Next leads to our being asked, as in Fig. F.16, if we have any graphics to export. For this problem, we have no graphs.

We are now approaching the end of the process. We are asked to comment about the solution, Fig. F.17. And, we are asked if the answers agree with the PSpice solution. The answers do agree and we can proceed to determining what we want to export, Fig. F.18. We can generate Word and/or PowerPoint files, Fig. F.19. In this case, we select both but will only show the output of the Word file, Fig. F.20. Note: This output was modified so that it could be presented on two pages.

We have now completed a detailed example. We suggest that you first try to do this with the platform and look at your output in both Word and PowerPoint. To help you to continue to develop your facility with the platform, try working the following practice problem, using mesh analysis. For more examples, please go to the website.