by Bruce Klimpke, Technical Director at INTEGRATED Engineering Software and Dr Peter van Duijsen, Technical Director at Simulation Research, Bodo's Power Systems, Jan 01 2009
Focus:
This article discusses requirements for system-level and component-level-simulation (and the relationships between the two) with an eye toward simulating electronic and electro-mechanical systems such as the drive train of a hybrid electrical vehicle (HEV), which is used an example. Within the context of component simulation, the article discusses the role of the finite element method (FEM) in solving equations where analytic solutions or series approximations do not exist. It then describes the boundary element method (BEM) and how it can reduce computation and modeling times for some problems. The benefits of BEM in an example application--a motor design--are discussed. With that as background, a process for performing component and system-level simulation of the HEV drive train is outlined. There is also discussion about the coupling of component and system-level simulation such as when a system simulator needs to "to call the FEM solver at certain time intervals". The example of a levitating disk is cited.
What you’ll learn:
Notes:
Article appears on pages 38-40 of January issue in article archive. You must register to access articles in this magazine's archive.
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