The FMI Blockset for Excel allows FMUs to be simulated from within Microsoft Excel. It is a Claytex in-house built tool and provides Add-ins for Microsoft Excel written in .Net. The FMI Blockset for Excel is compliant with the FMI 2.0 Co-simulation interface and it consists of:
- FMI Blockset shown in Figure 1.0,
- FMI Ribbon shown in Figure 2.0, and
- FMU Setup shown in Figure 3.0
FMI Blockset:
Figure 1.0: FMI Blockset.
The FMI Blockset User Interface (UI) enables the user to select and configure FMUs in Microsoft Excel. The FMI Blockset UI will extract and read the FMU and upload the required information in the FMU Setup Excel spreadsheet. In the FMI Blockset UI the user can edit values of Parameters, Constants & Variables and also edit initial conditions via the Initial Values tab.
FMI Ribbon:
The FMI Ribbon is an Add-in and a key component of the Excel user interface toolbar. It is divided into seven groups (as shown in Figure 2.0): Setup, Simulation, Time Series, Output, Reset, Navigation and Help.
Figure 2.0: FMI Ribbon.
Through the FMI Ribbon the user will be able to build new projects, update and Add Time Series Sheets, Edit settings and run up to ten different cases. The user will also be able to Plot Results, Compare Single Channels, Clear Result Sheets and Clear Plot Sheets. More details of how to use the FMI Blockset for Excel can be found within the FMI Ribbon under Documentation within the Help group.
FMU Setup:
The FMU Setup sheet is shown in Figure 3.0 and is used to configure the FMU and the simulation cases.
Figure 3.0: FMU Setup.
The FMU Setup Excel sheet is divided into five sections:
- FMU Details – the general details about the FMU.
- Simulation Settings – the user can set Start time, Stop Time, Step Size, and Tolerance.
- Parameter List – the user can add parameters into the Excel FMU Setup sheet from the FMI Blockset UI, configure the settings for up to ten different cases to run and remove parameters from list.
- Input Variables List – the user can add Variables into the Excel FMU Setup sheet from FMI Blockset UI, configure settings for up to ten different cases and Remove the variables from spreadsheet.
- Outputs List – the user can add Output parameters into the Excel FMU Setup sheet from FMI Blockset UI and specify the number of plots.
The complete user interface of FMI Blockset for Excel is shown in image below (Figure 4.0):
Figure 4.0: FMI Blockset for Excel User Interface.
Feel free to contact sales@claytex.com to get more information on FMI Blockset for Excel.
Written by: Vesel Haxha – Senior Developer
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