Altair® Flux® 2023 Release Highlights
Altair EmployeeLet’s have a look at the key features and improvements of Altair® Flux® 2023!
Electromechanical design is key in all electrification projects and Flux is the perfect tool to optimize the efficiency of the power conversion. Whether you are designing electric machines, actuators, or busbars for power converters, Flux 2023 will help you getting the results you need faster.
USING THE POWER OF SIMLAB FOR 3D ELECTROMAGNETICS ANALYSIS
Altair SimLab is reducing the number of clicks you need to do to get the job done. 3D transient magnetics has been introduced in the latest versions and Flux 2023 is adding a few things. The possibility to use non-meshed coils is one key advantage of the Flux solver, letting the user model coils in less time and generating 3D models that are lighter and faster to solve. Simple non-meshed coils can now be used in SimLab, with a very intuitive user interface to define them.
When modeling linear actuators in transient 2D or 3D with the modeling of the movement, the air around the parts needs to be remeshed automatically. This approach is general and allows both translation or rotating movements, whatever the shape of the parts, and enabling the evaluation of motion induced eddy currents. Coupled to the circuit that feeds the coil, and then capturing all transient effects, this kind of models will let you evaluate with great accuracy the time needed for the actuator to close.
Non-meshed coil definition for a linear actuator and 3D transient magnetics results with movement
Because Axial machines are today seen as a great technology for getting high power densities in the electrification of mobility, a template has been created in SimLab that will let you get your axial machine model set up only in a few clicks!
An axial machine model defined and solved in a few clicks.
GETTING THE IMPEDANCE OF PARASITICS FOR POWER ELECTRONICS DESIGN
In the last version of SimLab, a new module was introduced allowing us to compute the effect of parasitic elements of electrical connections in power converters. In the 2023 version, those key quantities can be extracted in the form of impedances, in addition to the existing S-parameter computations available in Spice and TouchStone formats. Those impedance values can be used in Altair PSIM to get more precise evaluations of power converter performances, and also solve potential EMI issues.
Extracting the impedance of power busbars
IMPROVEMENTS IN MATERIAL MODELING
The quality of the results you can get with a simulation tool depends a lot on the accuracy of the material characteristics you enter. Continuous improvements are being made to help you identify more precisely and in an easier way those key data.
Recently, the ability to model the impact of mechanical stress on magnetic performance has been introduced. B(H) identification tools provided in Flux now integrate those new models to help you fit the model. When it comes to iron losses, the Material Identification tool, which is available in the Flux supervisor, also proposes now enhanced fitting capabilities for the Bertotti model.
The Material Identification tool from Flux allows to fit material characteristics models in an easy way.
Most of the traction machines are now using permanent magnets. The demagnetization of these magnets is an effect that needs to be considered carefully, to avoid performance or even safety issues. Flux can evaluate this quite precisely based on a preisach model. In the new version, you are able to extract the spatial distribution of the magnetic state of the magnet after demagnetization, and use it as a starting point for a new computation, analyzing the motor performance after the magnet magnetization has been degraded.
AND ALSO
- Flux eMotor Toolbox (FeMT) has been improved with X-factors that can be applied to iron losses, separated maps of stator and rotor iron losses, the possibility to zoom on the maps, and a direct export of look-up tables for system simulations.
- Ability to use distributed mode when running parametric studies with Flux Skew.
Discover these improvements in more detail by looking at the Release Notes of Altair® Flux® 2023
You can also find the full documentation online:
Altair® Flux® can be downloaded on the Altair One Marketplace (with your account) here.
Enjoy Altair® Flux® 2023 version!
If you want to know more about Altair® FluxMotor® and its new features, look at the Release Notes.
Yann Le Floch - VP – Program Manager Flux®
Vincent Leconte - Senior Director Electrification Solutions