Sébastien DESHARNAIS, PhD

Lead Application Engineer

ANSYS Inc.

DESIGN, OPTIMIZATION & VALIDATION OF ELECTRIC MOTORS WITH

ANSYS MOTORCAD & ANSYS MAXWELL

June 1st, 2021

MDL to ANSYS for Complete Design Workflow

Maxwell 2D & 3DAdvanced Magnetics Modeling

Motor-CADEfficient Motor Design

Design Tool

for Electrical

Machines

Mechanical & CFDNVH, Cooling

3D Physical Validation

Concept Design SystemValidation

Design Analysis Operation

System ValidationControl logic, software

MOTOR-CAD

4

Motor-CAD

• Combination of analytical andnumerical modelling techniques.

• Covers all typical types of radial fluxrotating electric machines

• Motor Types:

– Brushless permanent magnet

– Induction– Synchronous reluctance– Switched reluctance– Synchronous wound field– Permanent magnet DC– Single phase induction

Motor Design Software

5

Motor-CAD EMag

• Combined 2D finite element and

analytical modelling approach

• Calculates electrical & electromagnetic

performance

• Coupled solution with the thermal model

• Automatically set-up calculations for

different performance tests.

Motor-CAD electromagnetic module

Radial winding pattern Induction machine equivalent circuit

Fourier analysis of the voltage

waveform

Linear winding layout

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Motor-CAD Therm

• Industry standard tool for thermal analysis ofelectric machines with over 20 years ofinbuilt experience.

• Calculates temperature of the motorcomponents in steady-state and transientoperating conditions.

• Enables accurate modelling of thermalbehaviour within seconds of calculation.

• Enables understanding of main heat transferpaths and opportunities to significantlyimprove output.

• Allows iteration and full exploration of thedesign space, alongside electromagneticanalysis; ensuring optimal design decisions.

Motor-CAD thermal module

Visualisation of oil

spray cooling

Thermal network

Radial temperature

distribution

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Motor-CAD Therm

Cooling types

Fan cooled machine

with cowling

Water jacket with

axial channels

Through ventilation

with radial ducts

• Totally enclosed non-ventilated

• Totally enclosed fan cooled

• Through ventilation

• Totally enclosed with internal circulating air

• Open end-shield cooling

• Water jackets

• Submersible cooling

• Wet rotor & wet stator cooling

• Spray cooling (oil on end-windings)

• Direct conductor cooling

Manufacturing data

• Thermal modelling of electric machine can be

challenging as thermal behaviour is significantly affected

by manufacturing aspects.

• Examples of manufacturing uncertainties that affect

temperature rise:

– Quality of effective interface between stator

and housing

– How well the winding is impregnated or potted

• Experience is built into the software to assist users in

selecting appropriate values.

• Losses, efficiency and energy usage can be calculatedacross any duty cycle.

• The behavior of the machine is solved with the thermalmodel to give temperature rise against time.

• The variation of losses and magnet flux (torque/amp)with temperature is accounted for.

• This enables engineers to design a machine with

minimum size/cost and optimise the design for

maximum cycle efficiency.

Duty Cycle Analysis

Motor/Generator:

Temperature Vs Time

Motor/Generator: Time vs Torque vs Speed

Co-solved electromagnetic and

thermal behavior over cycle

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Motor-CAD Lab Efficiency map

Calculated peak and continuous torque/speedcurves

Torque is limited on maximum

winding temperature

Torque is limited on maximum

rotor/magnet temperature

9

Motor-CAD Mechanical

• FE solution based

• Very fast – solves within a

couple of seconds

• Template or DXF import

options available

• Enables engineers to considerMagnetic and Mechanical performancetrade-off in design optimisation

Stress Analysis for High-Speed RotorsVon Mises Stress in IPM rotor at maximum speed

Motor-CAD EMag – Maxwell Links (2D, 3D)

Automatic link

Electronics Desktop(Maxwell)

• Geometry, winding, drive,symmetry, boundaryconditions and materials areall transferred from Motor-CAD to Maxwell

• Transferred model is readyto simulate.

MotorCAD

ANSYS Motor-CAD – optiSlang

• Enabling comprehensive design space exploration

• Design candidates evaluated against full design specification

• Multi-physics, multi-objective optimisation

CUSTOMER CASES

MAXWELL

Borg Warner

MAXWELL

Pain

Solution

$170,000 5x Motor-CAD licenses in 2016

$400,000 total revenue from growth and TECs 2016-2019

Competition

Existing: Internal tools + SPEED

There are no equivalents to Motor-CAD multi-physics solution on the market.

Account Manager n/a

ACE Engineersn/a

Metric

• Initial introductory meeting to present Motor-CAD solution• Evaluation support• Internal seminars and training to promote growth in usage.

Activity

Takeaway: Replacing internal electric motor design tools is an excellent opportunity. Motor-CAD solution can generate significant revenue.

• Existing tools supporting electric machine design - mixture of internally developed and external software. Limitations in terms of capability, accuracy and support.

BorgWarner Success Story

• More competitive designs – increased design capability• Reduction in design iterations – increased accuracy from design tools• Reduced risk of non-conformance to customer specification.• Risk mitigation against vulnerability to loss of current employee expertise

MTS

MAXWELL

Displacement example - MTS

• Develops high performance electric machines used in motorsport including top Formula_e and F1 teams

• Previously used Jmag exclusively

• We placed Motor-CAD in 2016. Replacing SPEED.

• Customer found they naturally increased the use of Motor-CAD in the workflow replacing Jmag as the tool for design space exploration and iterative what-if analysis

• Motivations for this have been clearly stated as the automated links with Motor-CAD

• Combined solution can displace Jmag.

• Motor-CAD can be used a non-threating initial footprint to be sold alongside Jmag.

• They have also stated that the link will enable increased Maxwell usage in MTS by allowing some engineers to broaden their simulation capabilities.

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+

+

Pain

Solution

Motor-CAD licenses initially –followed by Motor-CAD + Maxwell deal in 2020.

Competition SPEED + JMag

Account Manager

ACE Engineers

Metric

• Placed initial Motor-CAD license to replace SPEED in 2016

• Motor-CAD usage in workflow grew and took a more dominant role,

supported by training and attendance at Motor-CAD conferences.

• Decision to replace JMag with Maxwell in 2020 due to productivity

advantages with tool couplings.

Activity

Takeaway: Motor-CAD can be placed alongside competitors to

Maxwell without requiring a significant investment in changing the

workflow. This will then create significant opportunities for Maxwell

as Motor-CAD usage grows.

• Limitations of capability in existing tool SPEED. Lack of support and

developments.

MTS Success Story

• Drive cycle analysis capability

• Fast multi-physics front end design tool

• Accurate analysis