Magsoft: 3-D thermal simulation for motors and generators

Detailed thermal analysis is required for optimal motor application. New release of a suite of software tools promises improved simulation and interface technologies for additional types of electrical machines—brush/brushless permanent magnet motors, induction motors, switched-reluctance motors, synchronous generators, and claw-pole generators. Motor-CAD Version 2, co-developed with Motor Design Ltd . (a U.K. company), is now available for distribution from Magsoft Corp . Motor-CAD is said to rapidly compute the thermal solution of a motor design using lumped parameter circuit modeling. “Motor-CAD is particularly valuable in the conceptual stage of the design process for motors and generators,” says Magsoft.

Motor-CAD allows detailed thermal transient analysis required for optimal motor usage, when using complex duty-cycle loads.

Users can work in either a steady-state or transient analysis, however Version 2 transient calculation now accepts complex duty-cycles. With Motor-CAD, alternative cooling configurations can be explored to identify those most promising or ones prone to thermal failure. An ActiveX component is also new. It enables rapid evaluation of “various sensitivities of a motor.” Users can vary input/output parameters and to directly control the simulation process.

Relevant motor data are simply entered via clearly structured templates of Motor-CAD’s interface. Users characterize their design alternatives by control of input parameters, such as:

3-D geometry features;

Conductor type, winding layout, and power controls;

Electrical and mechanical losses;

Physical and thermal material properties; and

Housing, potting, and cooling configurations.

“Electric machine designers have consistently told us that magnetics and mechanics are only part of their problem, and that thermal aspects are becoming more critical to the overall success of any design. Motor-CAD’s revolutionary approach provides the user with a rapid solution to the 3-D thermal behavior of a particular design idea,” says Shep Salon, president of Magsoft.

—Frank J. Bartos, executive editor, Control Engineering, fbartos@reedbusiness.com

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