Romax eMotor Summit

eMotor Summit: CAE-Led Design of Electrical Machines within E-drive Development

31/10/2019

Romax has a long and proud history of electromechanical simulation, since developing its first software product in 1996, for single shaft dynamic analysis of industrial generators. Since then, we have been involved in countless customer projects for electrification, have set up a Centre of Excellence for Electrification at the University of Sheffield, UK, have engaged in substantial research projects, such as the ODIN project, which developed thermal and NVH capabilities for electrical machines, and now have several dedicated teams working in electrification.

Our software has also evolved dramatically: our first simulation capability for electrical machine NVH launched in 2016, and subsequently won the IET Award for Innovation. These capabilities now form a key part of Romax Spectrum, Romax’s flagship product for full-system NVH analysis and acoustic simulation. Designed for an earlier stage of the process, Romax Concept now allows users to incorporate motor design within a concept-level model of the whole system, enabling rapid exploration of system topologies early on in the design of electrified drivetrains. As part of the Romax platform, 2019 has also seen the launch of our first dedicated software tool aimed at electrical machine designers: Romax Evolve, for structural and NVH analysis of motors and generators.

We understand that engineers need reliable tools to understand all relevant physical mechanisms and failure modes that will influence their designs. For the electrical machine designer, this means they need to perform electromagnetic analysis, as well as conducting thermal, structural, NVH and acoustic analysis of the motor. As such, we seek to create strong interfaces between complementary products, so that our users can construct their own eco system, with strong interoperability between the products they use. For the benefit of our users, as well as to further our own knowledge and tackle industry issues together, we have forged many strong partnerships in electrification, fostering relationships with JSOL, Motor Design Limited, Dassault Systemes, Altair and Ansys.

As part of a record-breaking year of summits, we have recently hosted our first dedicated motor summit event in Japan, which gathered together Romax experts (from Japan and the UK) and customers in two locations: Tokyo on 15 October, and Osaka on 16 October. The motor summit focused on the design of an electrical machine in the context of drivetrain development, and showed how state of the art tools can be integrated into a CAE-led complete process. The event guided participants through initial electromagnetic and thermal design of a traction motor using Motor-CAD, structural design and analysis of the electrical machine using Romax Evolve, drivetrain layout and packaging design using Romax Concept, and NVH and acoustic analysis of a mature electrified driveline using JMAG and Romax Spectrum. To end the session, we presented on one of Romax’s latest cutting-edge technology offerings: Bearing Dynamics, which uses time-domain simulation to help users understand dynamic behaviour within ball bearings and avoid failure modes within high-speed electrical machines.

Product Manager for Electrification, Dr. Rob Holehouse comments:

“It was a very proud moment for us to host our first dedicated motor summit event. We had great attendance and engagement from customers, and it was a fantastic opportunity for Romax UK and Japan teams to work together to showcase some of our latest capabilities, and network with other interested parties!”

If you missed the summit, check out our other upcoming workshops:

Or stream one of our recent electrification webinars: