May 2005

By DE Editors

Editor’s Pick of the Week—May 25, 2005New Features Top List of MAGNETO Improvements 2D magnetic field solver provides even faster, more accurate simulations says IESIntegrated Engineering Software (IES; Winnipeg, MAN) has just releasedMAGNETO 6.2, the latest version of its 2D magnetic field solversoftware. Version 6.2 has been enhanced in all areas, such as the userinterface and extended FE (finite element capabilities). IES chose MAGNETO 6.2 to introduce a number of new features and toolsto increase the efficiency and productivity of design engineers.Voltage Coils/Winding and Energy/Coenergy are two such new features inversion 6.2.The Voltage Coils/Winding feature lets you specify voltage excitationto calculate the current draw. The new Energy/Coenergy by Regioncommand can be used as an alternate methodology for calculating forceand torque. A third new feature, Healing of Tangents, heals tangentsautomatically. Previously, tangent lines, often brought in with DXFimports, altered the region recognition and could severely distort amodel, requiring manual repair.MAGNETO 6.2 now lets you delete selected regions without deleting anysegments that bound unselected regions, keeping attached geometryintact. The Field Analysis Results dialog box now lets you save yourdefault settings or restore the original settings. There is also ahierarchy allowing, for example, different display forms to havedifferent default settings.View and Utilities menu enhancements include the ability to set thezoom level and scroll positions to display the entire geometry fillingthe workspace, making it easier to see big view areas in relation to asmall model. You can also customize number displays when outputting tofiles or the message area, and select scientific or engineering, numberof decimal places, and exponent presentations.To provide fast and accurate solutions as well as speed andflexibility, MAGNETO lets engineers leverage different solvers to solveMaxwell’s equations: BEM (boundary element method), FEM (finite elementmethod), or a hybrid BE-FE method solver that combines the strengths ofboth BEM and FEM analysis. Both BEM and FEM have inherent advantagesand disadvantages when solving magnetic field problems. FE, forexample, solves Maxwell’s equations in differential form, while BEsolves Maxwell’s equations in integral form. MAGNETO let’s you bringBE/FE functionality to bear on problems simultaneously. Additionally,version 6.2 now offers quadratic finite elements and angular periodicFEM. The former says IES are especially useful for cogging torquesolutions and providing smoother field calculations.General enhancements include multiple level Undo/Redo for geometryediting; and improved command line prompts that let you know whatcommand you’re in and what it wants out of you. The Message Area nowlets you highlight, copy, and paste text from the Message Area intoother programs. Other Message Area enhancements include the ability tocustomize fonts and commands. Additionally, Magneto’s direct link to the SPEED consortium’s (Glasgow, Scotland) motor design software’sbrushless DC motor module lets you launch MAGNETO from SPEED andautomatically perform analyses.  As with earlier versions, MAGNETO 6.2 provides a toolbox of advancedmodeling techniques that link directly to parametric-based CAD packagesfor true geometric representation of complex shapes. MAGNETO’sparametric solver lets designers automatically vary and experiment withgeometry, materials, and sources, reducing the boring task offine-tuning multiple design parameters.MAGNETO 6.2 is available now. Request an evaluation by clickinghere. To view an onlinedemo click here. To just go tothe IES website to obtain complete details, click here.