APPLICATION BRIEF

Electrical Drive Modeling through a

Multiphysics System Simulation Approach
The electric drive system is a key application in power electronics. Optimizing such complex
mechatronic system requires in-depth analysis, expertise and rigorous methodology. This can
be realized in several ways, optimizing each component of the system separately. But using
optimal components does not guarantee optimal behavior of the whole drive. This calls for a
system simulation approach integrating each individual part of the drive system into a common
simulation platform.

Products Used: / Electrical Drive

Ansys Simplorer ®
An electric drive is a system that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. It also
Ansys SCADE Suite® provides electrical control of the whole process through several devices and technologies
Ansys Icepak® (Figure 1). The objective is to create a smooth and versatile control to achieve a specific speed
Ansys RMxprt™ torque characteristic. It is a key component of the power conversion chain between power
sources and loads.
Ansys Maxwell®
The AC drive controls the speed of an electrical motor, which can be a synchronous or
induction machine. Depending on the application, the speed of the electrical motor may need
to be adjusted, which is accomplished through the power supply’s frequency — hence, the
adjustable or variable frequency drives.

POWER
SOURCE OR DRIVE LOAD
NETWORK

CONTROLLER

CPU, ASIC, MEMORY

CONTROLLER

Figure 1. Main elements of electric drive system: rectifier, DC circuit, inverter.

Electrical Drive Modeling through a Multiphysics System Simulation Approach // 1

Drives are used in a wide range of applications in the industry: food blenders,
fans, pumps, mills, oil drilling platforms, mining, compressors, HVAC systems,
industrial equipment, traction motors for cars, railway applications and more.

/ System Approach
Electric drive technology has advanced significantly over the past few
decades, reducing cost and size of as well as improving effciency and
performance through better semiconductor technology, topologies
optimization, control technology and software.

In designing next-generation drives, the challenge is to handle and study

complex multiphysics issues. Electrical optimization, thermal management,
fatigue, and software–hardware interaction must be considered in a global
view.

A system simulation approach is required so designers can accomplish

such challenges and solve issues in the early stages of the development
cycle. One tool is Ansys Simplorer, multi-domain system simulation software
with multiphysics modeling capabilities. It integrates multiple modeling
technologies such as block diagrams, state machine, language (C++,
VHDLAMS, SML, PSPICE) modeling, electronics circuit and coupling capability
with 2-D/3-D Ansys simulation tools.

/ Semiconductor Modeling
Semiconductors are used as electrical switching devices in power electronics
applications. This technology has advanced greatly in past years, with design
of new gates, bulks and internal topologies as well as wide-gap material-
based devices.

To correctly model semiconductors, Ansys Simplorer offers a characterization

tool that enables building IGBT (and other devices) from manufacturer
datasheets or measurement data, no matter the semiconductor technology
used. Three types of IGBT models are available: average, basic dynamic and
advanced dynamic. Depending on the type of simulation and electrical focus,
a designer can choose the system electrothermal model (average), dynamic
accurate models for EMC/EMI study, and gate-drive optimization (basic
dynamic and advanced dynamic models). Figure 2. Simplorer semiconductor
characterization tool model building from a
Figure 2 shows an example: the average type IGBT model. Through the manufacturer datasheet.
characterization tool’s wizard, the different data and electrical curves are
needed to build a model. Simplorer then creates a compact model according
to the electrical characteristics selected.

/ Cooling Device
In power electronics, thermal management is a key element for good
design. Heat dissipation is critical in semiconductors; the operating junction
temperature must be controlled both to avoid electrothermal failures and
to enhance reliability of the whole power inverter. Many types of cooling
systems exist. As an example, one commonly used in railway applications is
the cold-plate liquid cooling system.

There are several cold-plate designs, and they usually use channels for
water flow. The cooling plate in this example includes a hollowed aluminum
block with a glycol solution (Figure 3). Consideration must be given to the
different interfaces between the chip and cooling system. Classical stacking
incorporates solders, metallization, ceramic substrate, a base plate for
mechanical consideration and a thermal interface.

Electrical Drive Modeling through a Multiphysics System Simulation Approach // 2

Modeling and simulating the cold plate can be performed with Ansys Icepak, a
thermal–CFD simulation tool for electronic cooling devices. The Icepak model
uses forced convection with ambient and cooling liquid temperature of 70°C.
The model size is 2.4 million (Figure 4).

For system simulation, Simplorer is used to generate an equivalent thermal

model to be coupled to the IGBT models. One accurate and robust technique
is to develop a reduced-order model (ROM) from high-fidelity Icepak results.
To make the ROM, Icepak creates step responses of the thermal system
(Figures 5 and 6). Based on the step responses, the ROM can be created so it
has the same step responses.
Figure 3. One-side cooling system of cold plate
modeling for power modules.
Subsequently, the ROM can be used inside Ansys Simplorer for temperature
calculation with excellent accuracy under arbitrary heat profiles.

/ Simulating Complete Drive System

The appropriate simulation methodology should enable designers to validate
each step of product design by incorporating simulation models early in the
process.

In this way, power electronics designers have realistic temperature operating

points, software developers can test and validate codes with realistic hardware
models, and mechanical and thermal engineers can dispose of accurate data
such as losses values and distributions.

Figure 4. Mesh plot of geometry.

Figure 5. Steady-state results for fluid flow calculation.

Electrical Drive Modeling through a Multiphysics System Simulation Approach // 3

The drive is modeled by a DC circuit, a three-phase inverter based on IGBT
switches, controlling a DC brushless motor. A thermal cooling system and
the control system are simulated along with the power electronics. DC parts
can be modeled by an ideal source or a battery model. The whole system is
shown in the Figure 7.

Following inverter modeling, the control system model can be put in place
using Ansys SCADE Suite. This tool offers the ability to integrate and test
in an analog system flow the actual embedded code that will be loaded in
the final hardware target. SCADE Suite enables automatic generation of a
certified code through a comprehensive graphical interface (Figure 8).
Figure 6. Transient simulation example of trial #12 and
temperature field covering whole system.

Figure 7. Complete drive system simulation with Simplorer.

Figure 9. Position sensors modeling includes analytical

native model and ROM from Maxwell.

Figure 8. SCADE Suite for embedded software models the control.

The control can be done with an open loop in the first step and then in
closed loop at a final stage. Electrical control is done through measuring the
return current and mechanical data, such as rotor position, speed and motor
torque. To capture rotor position, Hall effect sensors can be used (Figure 9).
These are modeled from lumped elements from Simplorer library; they also
can be modeled via ROM for more accuracy from 2-D/3-D Ansys Maxwell
software, a general-purpose finite element electromagnetic simulation tool.

The benefits from using ROM instead of cosimulation technology (when

physics allow) include a drastic reduction in time simulation without loss
of accuracy compared to high-fidelity field results. The analog information
from the sensors is then converted into numerical data and sent back to the
control model from SCADE Suite.

Electrical Drive Modeling through a Multiphysics System Simulation Approach // 4

The motor is modeled from either Maxwell 2-D/3-D or RMxprt, an electrical
machine design tool that provides accurate analytical models for all
standard electrical machine types (single and three-phase induction
motor, synchronous machine, switched reluctance motor, generic
rotating machine). You can quickly configure and set up a very large set
of parameters allowing accurate description of the machine. The software
enables editing rotor and stator slots, stator windings configuration,
conductor data (material), coil arrangement and more (Figure 10). The
example here is a BLDC motor.

Figure 10. View of Ansys RMxprt electrical machine

model with mechanical load.

Figure 11. ROM (linear time invariant model) of cooling system for
power electronics.

Figure 12. View of three-phase currents (left) and junction temperature of

IGBTs and diodes (right).

Finally, thermal management of the active electronic part must be consid-

ered along with the power electronics. Cooling of the power inverter was
modeled in a 3D electronics thermal design tool (in this case, Ansys Icepak).
The ROM created from the high-fidelity 3D model results is thoughly
incorporated into Simplorer simulation (Figure 11).

As a result, you can validate the behavior of each subcircuit and mutual
interactions between physics, then identify the key points of enhancement
early in the design by monitoring and analyzing essential quantities, such as
junction temperature of semiconductors or three-phase currents (Figure 12).

/ Summary
The Ansys system simulation strategy has been demonstrated through a
combination of multiphysics system simulation with embedded software
development for power electronics. Through a comprehensive system
solution known as Simplorer, integration of detailed robust accurate models
coming from field tools can be realized for each physics domain to obtain
early diagnosis and study of the whole product optimization.

The approach is extensible with more-detailed models (3D) of different

hardware components, depending on the need and analysis case.

Electrical Drive Modeling through a Multiphysics System Simulation Approach // 5

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Electrical Drive Modeling through a Multiphysics System Simulation Approach // 6