Electrical Machines
Considered design of motors and generators is becoming ever more important as designers seek new levels of efficiency and power to weight/volume ratios. Advanced design support in the form of finite element techniques is an extremely cost effective means of enhancing and speeding the design process for innovative companies but it is only employed by a proportion of manufacturers to date.
We have 30 years of experience working with some of the world’s top electrical machines manufacturers to produce reliable, accurate and functional design software. The Opera-2d & Opera-3d design environments, parametric modelling, command language and Optimizer provide a flexible and fast way to design, analyse and optimise your designs based on your chosen conditions for the optimal machine.
Component or system models may be imported from a company’s existing CAD system, or created using Opera’s built in modeller with its powerful ACIS geometry kernel and assisted by the interactive machines environments.
Features include:
- Advanced model creation facilities in 2d and 3d
- CAD file import (DXF, SAT, IGIS, CATIA V4, CATIA V5, STEP, ProE)
- 2d sketching using the mouse (for ultra-fast 3d model creation)
- Non-Linear, anisotropic and multi-physics properties
- BH curve editor, plus library of materials
- Graphical circuit editor
- Parameterised conductors in 3d for extreme accuracy
- Auto-generation of finite element mesh for simulation
- SPEED (.gdf) import
Advanced electrical machine power drive, circuitry and control systems for the dynamic operation of such devices can also be defined using the Circuit Editor, command files and/or our live link with Simulink™.
The Opera software is specifically used in the design of, Induction (Asynchronous) Machines, DC, PMDC and Universal Motors, Synchronous Motors and Generators, Brushless DC, Stepper and Switched Reluctance Motors, Axial Flux Machines.
Typical analyses performed on such machines in 2d/3d using the Opera finite element software include:
- Statics
- Steady state AC
- Dynamics (including coupled motional analysis)
- Multiphysics
- coupled thermal
- coupled structural
Typical results obtained for such machines include:
- cogging torque
- excitation torque
- torque ripple for DC and AC
- slip and power factor
- back emf and flux linkage
- dynamics
- start-up characteristics
- constant power operation characteristics
- constant speed operation characteristics
- short circuit analysis
- magnetisation and demagnetisation
- losses
- iron loss (eddy current loss, hysteresis loss and excess loss)
- copper loss
- eddy current loss in permanent magnets
- flux weakening operation
Examples can be provided for each of these scenarios, if you are interested in finding out more please visit our applications website, contact us or e-mail us at vectorfields.machines@cobham.com.
Please follow the links below for more information on the tools that could drastically improve the speed of your design process and final product efficiency:
- Opera-2d Pre & post Processor
- Opera-3d Modeller & Post Processor
- Optimizer - Design Optimization
- ME2D - Machines design in 2 spacial dimensions
- ME3D - Machines design in 3 spacial dimensions
We have a number of modules available to assist you in the design process of your electrical machine:
2D Modules:
ST (Statics Analysis) Statics Analysis: This handles both magnetostatic and electrostatic analysis. It assumes that the excitation current is constant with time, and allows excitation by permanent magnet. The material properties can be linear or nonlinear (i.e. the permeability may be a function of the field strength at each point in the material). Isotropic or anisotropic material properties are also catered for. AC (AC Eddy current analysis) AC Eddy Current Analysis: steady-state ac fields including eddy currents with linear or nonlinear materials and either current or voltage driven sources. Permeabilities can either be taken from the region data, looked up from a previous ST or TR solution, or calculated from the maximum field in the AC solution. In all cases the permeability can be complex. TR (Transient Eddy Current Analysis) Transient Eddy Current Analysis: Assumes the excitation current or voltage is of any form that is described by a variation over time. The solution is determined at discrete time steps. The transient waveform may be selected from standard driving functions or may be explicitly defined in tabular format or user defined functions. LM (Linear Motion Analysis) Linear Motion Analysis: A transient eddy current module, extended to include the effects of general motion that induces eddy currents. The solution can have XY symmetry, where motion can be in both X and Y directions, as well as allowing for rotational motion about a point. The solution can also have axisymmetry, where the motion is restricted to the Z axis. The solver also provides for the use of external circuits and coupling to mechanical equations. RM (Rotating Motion Analysis) Rotating Machines Analysis: A transient eddy current module, extended to include the effects of rigid body rotation, time varying currents and coupling to external circuits. Transient waveforms may be selected from standard driving functions or may be explicitly defined. The material properties can be nonlinear (i.e. the permeability may be a function of the field strength at each point in the material). For 2d models with axially skewed geometry, a number of rotating slices can be solved. As with LM, the RM solver also provides for the use of external circuits and coupling to mechanical equations. DM (Demagnetization Analysis) Demagnetization Analysis: Models the magnetization process for hard magnetic materials. During a transient nonlinear analysis it can use a virgin BH-Curve for material magnetization and interpolates between defined ‘demagnetization’ BH-Curves and recoil lines to model in-service effects associated with varying load and fault conditions. SA (Stress Analysis) Stress Analysis: Using nodal forces as input, or body force densities calculated from an earlier electromagnetic analysis. TH (Thermal Analysis) Thermal Analysis: Using nodal temperatures as input, and element power densities calculated from an earlier electromagnetic analysis. THTR (Transient Thermal Analysis) LD (Lossy Dielectrics) Lossy Dielectrics: The Lossy Dielectrics option enables modelling of devices consisting of materials with both conductive and dielectric properties in static, time-harmonic and transient conditions using ST, AC or TR. | 3D Modules:
TOSCA (Statics Analysis) TOSCA: Solves nonlinear magnetostatic or electrostatic field problems and current flow in three dimensions. It has been in use for many years, but is being continually improved to increase its accuracy and efficiency. TOSCA uses a formulation based on total and reduced scalar potentials and caters for isotropic or anisotropic material properties. ELEKTRA (Time dependant electromagnetic fields) ELEKTRA: Analyses time dependent electromagnetic fields, including the effects of eddy currents. There are 3 analysis options: the time variation can be transient (TR), steady state ac (SS) or eddy currents can be induced in moving conductors with a specified linear or rotational velocity in the presence of a static field (VL). VL can be applied to situations where the motion does not change the geometry, e.g. infinitely long rails or rotating disks. CARMEN (Transient electromagnetic fields including motion) CARMEN: Analyses transient electromagnetic fields in linear and rotating machines, with the option of mechanical coupling to determine the rotor speed. DEMAG (Demagnetisation Analysis) DEMAG: Computes the magnetization of permanent magnet materials by time varying electromagnetic fields in three dimensions including the effects of eddy currents. During a transient nonlinear analysis it can use a virgin BH-Curve for material magnetization and interpolates between defined ‘demagnetization’ BH-Curves and recoil lines to model in-service effects associated with varying load and fault conditions. TEMPO (Thermal Analysis) TEMPO: Analyses transient and steady state thermal fields arising as a result of electromagnetic heating and external heat sources. The calculated temperatures can be fed back to electromagnetic analyses in order to vary material properties. Lossy Dielectrics Lossy Dielectrics: The lossy dielectric option can be selected in SCALA and TOSCA electrostatics to calculate the electric fields from charges which can move in materials which have a very small conductivity. |
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