Application Sheet
ElectroMagnetic Compatibility
Magnetic flux density in a power module supplied by
DC busbars and cooled by the heat spreader
Powerful Tools for Analysis and Design
To meet time-to-market requirements and comply with product
specifications, the virtual prototyping of EMC phenomena is widely
performed in the early design stages. Altair provides complete simulation
solutions to address these challenges for low and middle frequencies.
• Flux 3D for studying the magnetic effects of electric energy installations on
health as well as magnetic performances of grounding and shielding systems.
• Flux PEEC for analyzing stray impedances (R, L and C) of electrical
interconnections, as well as common-mode current distributions within
power electronics subsystems.
Optimization Solutions to Improve Electrical
Installation Designs and Reduce Negative Impact
on Human Health
Overhead lines, power cables, distribution transformers, and
distribution stations for electrical energy all must comply with restrictive
country regulations that define maximum exposure guidelines for
avoiding unsafe health effects on people.
Flux 3D offers the ideal tools for designers to virtually test new
configurations and improve existing equipment to comply with EMC
standards. In fact, in the same software environment, Flux 3D provides a
finite element AC magnetic steady-state solver, a circuit coupling context,
and dedicated advanced models for cables and substations walls.
Magnetic field on the walls of a complete substation
Electric current distribution in a car body used as a grounding
system for power cables
Magnetic field distribution generated by three-phase overhead lines. Radiated
emissions can comply with EMC standards (left image) or not (right image)
depending on the geometric arrangement of the cables.
Flux 3D includes a natural multi-parametric solver that facilitates
optimization and DoE studies. In addition, Flux 3D provides an embedded
graphical post-processor to represent magnetic fields, current density,
and other results, in multiple graphical and numerical formats.
Simulations of Grounding and Shielding Systems
In modern electric and hybrid vehicles, aircrafts and trains,
manufacturers aim to reduce the need for raw materials and thus reduce
the volume and weight of cabling. Consequently, bodies, fuselages and
chassis serve as grounding systems to ensure that electrical currents can
return to their source.
The paths that electrical currents follow to return to their power supply
are very different between the lowest frequencies (few Hz) and the
medium ones (hundreds of kHz) because resistive and inductive
behaviors are dominant in one or the other part of the spectrum of
frequencies. Flux 3D offers EMC engineers an easy approach for
simulating these situations and discovering the most appropriate cabling
architectures with analysis options that include:
• Cartographies (color shades, arrows, contour lines) of the current
density at various frequencies, both in cables and in grounding
systems, that are comprised of metallic and/or magnetic materials.
• Radiated magnetic fields in the surrounding space to study
interferences generated by power systems on low-voltage devices.
• Effects on passengers to ensure that magnetic induction levels on
human bodies do not exceed the exposure limits recommended by
health standards.
altairhyperworks.com/flux
 External circuit coupling to include cables, sources and loads to
FEM Flux 3D models
Thin magnetic and conducting shell elements coupled with external
circuit equations, and combined with non-meshed coils, are the key-factor
for modelling such geometries. Flux 3D easily facilitates the import of
these CAD and mesh models, and extends the degree of complexity that
can be captured in simulation results.
Stray impedances of Electrical Interconnections
Parasitic behaviors (especially inductive and capacitive) of electrical
interconnections have great influence on EMC performance in power
electronic devices because they act as undesired filters. In this situation,
there are electro-magnetic mutual couplings that generate an unwanted
increase in the impedance. In addition, the couplings cause significant
noise voltage drops on the conductors.
To address these challenges, Flux provides engineers with the PEEC
(Partial Element Equivalent Circuit) methodology, which enables modeling
of long and/or flat geometries (wire bondings, ground planes, heat
spreaders, etc.) that are difficult to simulate with Finite Elements.
The intrinsic capability of the Flux PEEC solver to use equivalent circuits
to model devices in steady state makes it easy to do the following:
•A nalyze critical loop inductances and parasitic capacitances –
Flux PEEC provides these stray matrices enabling engineers to
establish a correlation between the virtual and physical device to
help determine the physical reasons for abnormal couplings.
•A nalyze resonance frequencies of a system – By plotting global
impedances over the whole spectrum of frequencies, engineers can
determine if resonances occur in the risky band of EMC standards.
•E xtract accurate equivalent RLC circuits – The RLC circuits represent
the parasitic effects of interconnections which can be included into
SPICE-like functional models for time-domain simulations.
Global impedance of a power module over a large frequency band,
computed by Flux PEEC
Altair Engineering, Inc., World Headquarters 1820 E. Big Beaver Rd., Troy, MI 48083-2031 USA • (P) +1.248.614.2400 • (F) +1.248.614.2411 • www.altair.com • info@altair.com
Common-mode current in the aluminum box of an automotive subsystem
made of a PCB board and electronic components
Common-mode Currents in Electronic Subsystems
Magnetic and especially electrical couplings between conductors are
responsible for the generation of common-mode currents that increase
the risk for electronic subsystems not to comply with EMC limit standards.
Unlike other commercial products, Flux PEEC enables the analysis
of these currents with the computation of stray capacitance matrices.
The results are then introduced into the more global model where
3D conductors such as PCB tracks, power/ground planes, and metallic
boxes are already represented.
The PEEC method capability of meshing only the conductor volumes
without the surrounding space, combined with a Fast Multipole
accelerated solver, enables the software to perform fast and accurate
computations, even on large and complex geometries.
The Flux PEEC embedded graphical post-processor lets you easily
visualize results with color shaded maps, vector plots, 2D and 3D curves,
and raw tables, and then export results to Excel, MATLAB, solidThinking
Compose and similar tools.
Flux Capabilities
•A  dvanced CAD import for common formats.
•3  D modeler to create geometry from scratch, defeature and heal
CAD imported objects by removing defaults, define symmetries and
periodicities, and better facilitate mesh operations.
•R  obust mesh generator automatically adapts to the geometry, physical
properties and studied frequency range of a model.
•3  D mesh import reads in model data from HyperMesh® and SimLab®
for efficient and easy handling of complex geometry.
• Advanced Finite Elements physical formulations like surface impedance
and non-meshed coils account for skin effect and eddy currents on thin
regions like car bodies, fuselages, and power cables, respectively.
•S  tate-of-the-art PEEC computations account for inductive and
capacitive effects even for flat and long-meshed elements, thus saving
computation time.
• Embedded circuit solver coupled with both Finite Elements and
PEEC models enable integration of external electrical components,
such as decoupling capacitors, sources and loads, in the same
simulation environment with 3D geometries.
•E  xtended post-processing capabilities.
• Synthesis of RLC equivalent macro-models supports the most
advanced standard formats, SPICE, Modelica, VHDL-AMS, and others,
for the most common circuit solvers including SABER and Portunus.
•F  ull multi-parametric analysis for geometry, physical properties and
electric components.
•D  oEs and Optimization studies available through the connection
of Flux with HyperStudy.
•A  ccess to the full power of HPC systems through PBS WorksTM to
accelerate large model solving and parametric studies.
• Automation capabilities using macros and Python command files.
03.2018