The contribution of the finite-element method to the design of electrical machines: An industrial viewpoint

Fast computation of coupled fields in complex, 3‐D, industrial electromagnetic structures

“…Scientists working directly in industry know the problem of the method selection very well. Although we work far away each other and in different environments, this author says to his students exactly the same[17, p. 104] and absolutely agrees with the opinions[4, 5] of specialists from GEC‐ALSTHOM Stafford Research Laboratories, that:“FEM programs for solution of 2‐D and quasi 2‐D problems have reached a good degree of refinement …”. They are used[7, 9, 10] and recommended for such arrangements first of all.…”

“…They are used[7, 9, 10] and recommended for such arrangements first of all. However, Preston and Reece from GEC‐ALSTHOM Company[4] rightly emphasise that:• It is important to appreciate the special requirements of an industrial user of FEM methods:• For regular use the method must be relatively cheap and easy to use …• Solutions of good engineering accuracy are acceptable if this helps economy …• It is essential that results are validated by comparison with test data.• Essential results must be clearly and simply presented (a thick pile of closely‐printed sheets is a little use to a busy designer).• Thus, the data generation and post‐processing are almost as important as the solution phase.”• The design engineer is often more concerned with the thermal and mechanical consequences of electromagnetic behaviour.• Interactive graphics systems have greatly reduced the time and cost of data generation and post‐processing. This has encouraged product companies to undertake their own application work ……”

“…Simplified models are often also useful for partial explanation of particular electromagnetic problems, but real engineering jobs, e.g. [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13], with complicated interconnection of different materials properties and complex geometry, are still not available to industry engineers. A gap between academic science and engineering jobs still exists.…”

Simulated Experiments for Teaching Mutually-Coupled Circuits CAD Techniques Using Analytic and Finite Element Solutions

“…with the minus sign indicating attraction. The complete derivation of formulae expressed in (1) and (3) appears in Appendix A. [12].…”

“…As a result, any change in the device's specifications would be time consuming and difficult to be accommodated by the traditional methods of analysis. The decade of 1980 witnessed an increasing number of electric equipment manufacturers relying on electromagnetic computer-aided design (CAD) packages in their analysis tasks [1]. Also, academic groups have developed their own CAD Journal of Electromagnetic Analysis and Applications packages and worked together with manufacturing organizations to jointly perform a broad variety of experimental and simulated work.…”