ALTAIR FLUX™ PEEC

CONDUCTOR IMPEDANCE & NEAR FIELD SIMULATION

Altair - 2018
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

INCREASING NEED FOR POWER CONVERSION

• Increase of the world energy demand

• in developed countries
• refurbishment of electrical equipment
• introduction of renewable energies and Smart Grids
• in emerging countries
• growing use of electrical energy to reduce the gap

• Migration towards electrical energy : e-mobility

• Mechatronic systems in EVs and HEVs
• Energy storage devices and systems to recharge batteries
• More electrical aircrafts and ships

• Power converters mainly composed of :

• components (0D or lumped models) : switching functions
• connected each others by "cabling" (3D or distributed models)
• heat spreader
• resin, insulating materials
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

ELECTRICAL INTERCONNECTIONS (CABLING)

• Their non-ideal (parasitic) electromagnetic behaviours :

• resistive
• energy losses and heat to be dissipated to maintain adequate operating temperature
• inductive (magnetic couplings)
• switching over voltages and dissymmetry on IGBTs working
• capacitive (electric couplings)
• EMC issues

• They cause electromagnetic stress and possibly failures

• globally, they act as EMC coupling ways between sources and victims

• 3D simulation helps designers in limiting undesirable effects

and improving system performances
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

EXAMPLES
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

APPLICATION EXAMPLES

Distribution bars of a switchboard Power diode bridge Laminated busbar Power module

Heat spreader
Conductor PHASE 3

Conductor PHASE 2

Conductor PHASE 1

Conductor MINUS Conductor PLUS

PLUS
Variable speed driver C K C K C K
G Overvoltages
G G
E A E A E A
PHASE 1 PHASE 2 PHASE 3
Automotive LED turn-light
C K C2s C K C3s C K
Cps C1s
G G G
E A E A E A
MINUS
Cms
Heat spreader
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

APPLICATION EXAMPLE : BUSWAYS OF SWITCHBOARD

• Skin and proximity effects increase Joule losses, even at 50 Hz and

even with balanced loads
• Three-phase system of power supply bars
• Six bars in parallel for each phase

large mismatch on J :
ratio of 8

parasitic (internal and external) inductances

 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

REDUCTION OF PARASITIC JOULE LOSSES

R1

• Modifications on the geometric position of bars

R2
• Optimization process by GOT-It tool LENGTH

• a constraint on the global size (bounds) of the system R3

• bars linked two by two : inter-distance fixed

X_BAR

X13; Z13 X13+DX; Z13 Y_BAR

V1

X12; Z12 X12+DX; Z12

V3
X11; Z11 X11+DX; Z11 V2

X33; Z33 X33+DX; Z33 X23; Z23 X23+DX; Z23

Mono-objective optimization
X32; Z32 X32+DX; Z32 X22; Z22 X22+DX; Z22
by stochastic algorithm
X31; Z31 X31+DX; Z31 X21; Z21 X21+DX; Z21 on 18 parameters
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

REDUCTION OF PARASITIC JOULE LOSSES

Initial configuration : Proposed configuration :
612,8 W 424,2 W gain : 30%
in DC : 373 W
Reduction of inductance loops
Proximity effects limited
More uniform sharing of J
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

THREE-PHASE POWER DIODE BRIDGE (50 KA)

• Six cells with four parallel diodes each

• Structure
• Modeling with Flux PEEC
Interconnections
• Export to Activate
Electric circuit Flux PEEC:
• Computations: component generation
• Currents in parallel diodes

CHR equlEQUL1

S8_P S7_P S8_P S7_P S8_P S7_P

S6_P S5_M S6_P S5_M S6_P S5_M

S5_P INCA S4_M S5_P INCA S4_M S5_P INCA S4_M

S3_M S2_M S3_M S2_M S3_M S2_M

S1_M S1_P S1_M S1_P S1_M S1_P

D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9 D10 D11 D12

V
a I
Circuit software
(Altair Activate™)
b
I1

VSRC31

S8_P S7_P S8_P S7_P S8_P S7_P

S6_P S5_M S6_P S5_M S6_P S5_M

S5_P INCA S4_M S5_P INCA S4_M S5_P INCA S4_M

S3_M S2_M S3_M S2_M S3_M S2_M

S1_M S1_P S1_M S1_P S1_M S1_P

D13 D14 D15 D16 D17 D18 D19 D20 D21 D22 D23 D24
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

LAMINATED BUSBARS OF A THREE-PHASE INVERTER

• Are currents balanced ?

• Which variations according to frequency ?

three-phase
outputs

capacitor bank

DC supply
6 IGBTs + diodes
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

CURRENT DISTRIBUTION ON BUSBARS AND IGBTS

• Simulations by PEEC method – Flux PEEC tool

• IGBT and diodes modeled by their ON-state internal resistance
capacitors, although they are equal and neither the 6 IGBTs : Imax/Imin grows with frequency
in parallel, do not see the same current → safety margin to take during design
to ensure system reliability
Ecart entre le courant min et le max dans les IGBT
1,52
1,5
1,48
1,46
1,44
1,42
1,4
1,38
1,36
1,34
1,32

Imax/Imin
1,3 1,2947
1,28
1,26
1,24
1,22
1,2
1,18
1,16
1,14 1,1691
1,12
1,1
1,08 1,0995
1,06
1,04 1,0639 1,0716
Frequency = 21 kHz 1,02
1
1,0562

0 500 1500 3500 7000 14000 21000

F(Hz)

non-ideal (parasitic) behaviors

of conductors (resistance and inductance)
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

FLUX PEEC
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

FLUX PEEC: CONDUCTOR IMPEDANCE AND NEAR FIELD SIMULATION

Short description:
. Dedicated to electrical interconnection modeling for EMC and power
electronics applications
From small wire bonds and PCB tracks, up to busbars, power modules
and large distribution switchboards
. Evaluation of parasitic inductances and capacitances
. Analysis of current distributions and resonances
With skin, proximity and capacitive effects
. Computation of Joule losses, radiated magnetic fields and Laplace forces

Software specifications: Benefits:

. Save time and money in the design of power electronics
. Aided healing of the imported geometry systems
. Quick, robust, unique and multi-parametric solver Manage effects of RLC parasitics without prototyping
Taking advantage of the PEEC method . 3D simulations now possible on complex topologies
. Extended post-processing capabilities . Optimization of performances with EMC compliance
. Coupling to system simulators (SPICE, Activate) and
standard languages (VHDL-AMS, Modelica)
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

FLUX PEEC : CONDUCTOR IMPEDANCE & NEAR FIELD

• Advanced interconnections modeling

• For cables, distribution bars, switchboards, switchgears …

• Busbars, power modules, wire bondings, PCB boards …

 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

FLUX PEEC : COMPUTATION METHODOLOGY

• Based on PEEC method (Partial Element Equivalent Circuit)

• Modeling of conductors by an equivalent circuit :
→ R – L and magnetic couplings (M)
• Semi-analytical computation by Gauss points accelerated by Fast Multipole (FMM)
• Skin and proximity effects taken into account
• No air meshing
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

FLUX PEEC : COMPUTATION METHODOLOGY (CONT’D)

• With increasing of frequency (hundreds of kHz ÷ tens of MHz)

• electric couplings between conductors separated by dielectrics
stray capacitances (C)

• Assembling of R, L and C values into a matrix

for solving in AC steady-state the Kirchhoff’s equations
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

FLUX PEEC : COMPUTED QUANTITIES

• Expertise through accurate results:

• Impedances: loop inductances, common-mode capacitances
• Export to circuit simulator: Activate, Spice, VHDL-AMS, Modelica, etc.

Unbalanced currents in
paralleled diodes

Current distribution
in a busbar
Impedance variation
DC magnetic field according to frequency
of power rectifier at 0.5 m

• Current distribution, magnetic flux density, losses, Laplace forces…

 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

SOFTWARE INTEROPERABILITY

Co-development

Activate

Flux PEEC
Flux PEEC
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

FLUX PEEC

• The supervisor gives access to:

• Flux PEEC documentation
• Flux PEEC examples
• Flux PEEC options
• …

19
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

MAGNETO-THERMAL COSIMULATION WITH FLUX PEEC

• Magneto thermal 2 ways coupling between:

• Flux PEEC (magnetic steady state AC)
• Flux 3D steady state/transient thermal

• Based on cosimulation process existing from Flux 12

Chart of Heat source q
power losses
• Flux PEEC: new physical application: Flux PEEC  J2 Flux
• “Supplied conductors with thermal coupling” Thermal
Chart of
Thermal variation
temperature
of the resistivity 
T

20
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

MAGNETO-THERMAL COSIMULATION: BUSBAR

• FluxPEEC: Final temperature result (°C)

• Linear resistivity model depending on temperature
• f=25kHz

DV=100V
R=2 Ohms

• Flux thermal steady state:

• Thermal convection and radiation on external faces
• Thermal conduction
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

FORCES COMPUTATION IN FLUX PEEC

Aim:
• Compute Lorentz/Laplace forces acting on
metallic conductors to export to structural
simulation tools

Force to compute:
• DC component of volume density of
Lorentz/Laplace forces on points in the
conductors

Export format : .DEX file

22
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

FLUX PEEC: CONDUCTOR IMPEDANCE AND NEAR FIELD SIMULATION

Benefits:
. Save time and money in the design of power electronics
systems
Manage effects of RLC parasitics without prototyping
. 3D simulations now possible on complex topologies
. Optimization of performances with EMC compliance
 September 26,
© 2019 Altair Engineering, Inc. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved.

Learn more about Flux PEEC

altair.com/flux