Electromagnetics Solution

Electromagnetic simulations are critical to electrical and electronic product designs across many industries. The ANSYS Electromagnetics solution addresses the analysis needs of two broad but distinct electromagnetic market segments:

• Low-frequency: electric motors, relays, solenoids and magnet design
• High-frequency: radio frequency and microwave device design

The terms high and low frequency are misleading as they may not relate to the operating frequency of the devices. However, this terminology currently is accepted in the electromagnetics community. Follow this link for a full explanation and definition.

Wave launched from a unit of a phased array antenna

The ANSYS Electromagnetics solution is provided by three ANSYS products:

• ANSYS Multiphysics
• ANSYS Emag
• Icemax

The ANSYS Multiphysics product contains ANSYS Emag software and provides the most complete electromagnetics solution available on the market today. The combination addresses the analysis needs of both low- and high-frequency electromagnetic markets.

ANSYS Emag as a subset of ANSYS Multiphysics software addresses the analysis needs of the low-frequency industries only (electric motors, relays, solenoids and magnet design).

Icemax software is the most advanced parasitic extraction tool for analyzing complex integrated circuit (IC) package designs. Icemax is based on state-of-the-art finite volume field solver technologies, which allow quick and accurate electrical characterization of IC package performance.

The products and classes of electromagnetic physics supported by ANSYS Multiphysics and Emag products are shown in the following table:

Class of Analysis	ANSYS Emag	ANSYS Multiphysics
Electrostatics	√	√
Magnetostatics	√	√
Ion Optics	√	√
Steady-State Current Conduction	√	√
Low-Frequency Electric Quasistatic Electric	√	√
Low-Frequency Magnetic Quasistatic Magnetic	√	√
Full-Wave Electromagnetic (High-Frequency)		√
Electromagnetic Physics Coupling to: Thermal Thermal+Structural Thermal+Fluid Thermal+Fluid+ Structural		√

Electromagnetics in ANSYS Workbench

To address ease of use and CAD integration market needs, at ANSYS software 9.0 the magnetostatics low-frequency electromagnetics capability is available within the ANSYS Workbench platform.

Analysis of an electromagnet showing total magnetic flux density performed using ANSYS Workbench 9.0.

To view a presentation of the ANSYS Workbench magnetostatic features, follow this link.

Download a tutorial and example project file here.

The ANSYS Electromagnetics solution allows the user to gain an understanding of:

• Device performance characteristics under applied loads and boundary conditions
• Visualization of electromagnetic field in and around device
• Visualization of electromagnetic--thermal heating and resultant temperatures
• Extraction of key design parameters such as motor torque and antenna far field patterns

Solution Benefits

The ANSYS Electromagnetics solution is a virtual prototyping tool that can replace many aspects of electromagnetics physical testing. This reduces product time to market, reduces development costs, and allows the user to enhance and optimize the performance of products with minimal physical prototype costs.

Generally speaking, anyone who engineers, manufactures or tests anything described as an electrical/electronic product will definitely see value in the ANSYS Electromagnetics solution!