Cobham Technical Services Releases Opera Version 14 Electromagnetic Simulation

By DE Editors

A new release of the known Opera electromagnetic design software improves the speed and accuracy of simulation by extending the flexibility of finite element analysis meshing, according to the company. The software also includes other enhancements, including an integrated graphical circuit editor for defining associated electrical circuitry such as motor drive components.

Opera, from the Vector Fields Software product line of Cobham Technical Services, provides a design-simulate-analyze-optimize toolchain. It is available in several variants with finite element analysis (FEA) solvers for static and time-varying electromagnetic fields, or with application-specific solvers for design work including rotating electrical machinery, superconducting magnets, particle beams, dielectric insulation, and magnetization/demagnetization processes.

Opera version 14 increases the range of FEA meshing shapes that may be employed to break down a three-dimensional (3D) model of a proposed equipment design into smaller connected elements to simplify numerical solution. In addition to tetrahedral finite element shapes, volumetric models may now be meshed using a “mosaic” mixture of prism, hexahedral and pyramidal shapes to enhance the accuracy and speed of the simulation solution. This mosaic meshing also improves the speed of any subsequent coupled multi-physics simulations that might be employed.

The new meshing capabilities allow simulation to be carried out more quickly, especially for challenging models like eddy currents flowing in conductor surfaces. This particular case is further aided by a new surface impedance boundary condition, which avoids the need to capture skin effects using the finite element mesh in some situations.

“Meshing improvements mean that Opera’s toolchain can now find the ideal solution even faster, further reducing the time and costs compared with physical design iteration cycles, and with no compromise in accuracy. This release increases the extremely large amount of intellectual property already incorporated in this tool suite, to simplify the most challenging of projects,” says Cobham Technical Services’ Alex Michaelides.

Additional enhancements are incorporated in the new release of Opera. One of the most widely applicable is the integration of a graphical circuit editor for either two-dimensional or three-dimensional versions of the software. This makes it both simpler and quicker to define electrical circuits driving the electromagnetic equipment being designed — compared with the previous standalone utility that was available. The tool will also interactively interrogate circuit results following simulation — dragging the cursor over a component displays the current and voltage levels for instance. This feature will be particularly beneficial for developers of equipment such as electrical machines and actuators. In addition to the new circuit editor,  Opera models may also be co-simulated with other models via a Simulink interface.

The latest release of Opera also extends the performance of many of the solvers to enhance simulation fidelity and speed. To aid the final optimization of a design concept, Cobham’s Opera software package can also be supplied with an advanced auto-optimization tool designed specifically to work with finite element methods and able to work out the best solution for one or multiple goals, according to the company.

For more information, visit Cobham Technical Services.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.