As medias and governments are pushing for ‘Electrification’ as a global hype solution against Global Warming… industry players have to quickly embrace this pushed revolution nobody can ignore anymore to still be part of the game.

For example while combustion engines today performances are the results of several millennia of studies and researches from discovery of fire by first caveman engineer to direct injection combustion engines, Automotive electric engineers need to design electric powertrains reaching equivalent performances based on a mid-17th century experiment by Otto von Guericke.

This development speed, dynamism and those new challenges for electric machine development can only be overcome using extensive CAE simulation.

 

Simcenter SPEED software supports engineers in virtually validating design choices via detailed analytical simulation, quick and smart usage of 2D finite element magneto-static analysis. It includes all necessary theoretical and physical models for a rapid e-machine design with a flexible approach and a seamless interface with links to even more precise and detailed electric machine analysis and simulation such as multi-physics 2D and 3D Finite Element/Finite Volume (FE/FV) magneto-static or magneto-transient, thermal, mechanical or vibro-acoustic.

Simcenter SPEED benefits and features at a glance: 

• • Electric machine template: set-up an electric machine model in minutes

• • Multi-physic software link: seamless import to Finite Element software

• • Design exploration: automatically optimize electric machine performance

• • System level simulation: model export to system level model within Simcenter Amesim

Most industrially used machine programs

Simcenter SPEED supports most common machine types covering motor, generator and includes as well inverters.

User can benefit from pre-defined templates for following machine technologies:

• • Synchronous machines (PC-BDC)

• • Induction machines (PC-IMD)

• • Switched reluctance machines (PC-SRD)

• • Brushed PM-DC machines (PC-DCM)

• • Wound-field commutator machines (PC-WFC)

• • Axial flux machines (PC-AXM)

 

Seamless link with Multi-physics software

In order to improve simulation accuracy, Simcenter SPEED provides links to several general-purpose 2D and 3D electromagnetic finite element solvers such as Simcenter STAR-CCM+ and Simcenter Motorsolve or to Simcenter SPEED dedicated 2D magneto-static program, PC-FEA. These enable modeling and studying of the electric machine more precisely if needed, for example in cases of high saturation, under fault conditions, and non-SPEED template-based geometries.

In general, users can connect Simcenter SPEED with other tools required for the complete electric machine solution using various scripting or programming languages. More specifically, automation makes use of the scripting capabilities as driving Simcenter SPEED on its own or together with other programs such as STAR-CCM+. This automated workflow follows the scripting approach and uses STAR-CCM+ and its multi-physics solvers for electromagnetic, thermal (full 3D conjugate heat transfer) and mechanical stress analysis along with Java scripts to provide and feedback additional information.

Vibro-acoustic can also be studied combining stator and housing subsystem FE models with a surrounding free space BE model in order to assess electric machine sound quality. Objective being to eliminate annoying tonal noise through simulation within Simcenter 3D Acoustics.

Automated Design Space Exploration and Optimization

What is expected final outcome of such Model Based System Engineering approach? Answer: a support in making best design choice, and by ‘best’ this means optimized feasible choice, again through an efficient and seamless workflow.

As mentioned previously, Simcenter SPEED provides nearly instantaneously results thanks to its analytical approach, which makes it very suitable for Design Space Exploration programs supporting customers with so to speak “What if” studies and optimization runs.

HEEDS is a powerful software package in the Simcenter portfolio that automates this design space exploration process and Simcenter SPEED provides a built-in graphical user interface to access HEEDS.

Machine performance export to Simcenter Amesim

Simcenter SPEED offers a dedicated Simcenter Amesim export capability for the in-built System Simulation models. The export function computes the important e-machine parameters or flux linkage and iron losses data files which are then automatically used by Simcenter Amesim machine models. Outcome for user is the capability to consider electric machine electromagnetic non-linearity in the context of electric machine integration, early in development cycle, as you can see in the following video:

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