Adding a Maxwell Equivalent Circuit Component

Follow this procedure to add a Maxwell Equivalent Circuit component to a Twin Builder design.

1. On the Twin Builder main menu, select Subcircuit > Maxwell Component > Add Equivalent Circuit.

This launches the Maxwell application. The Maxwell Equivalent Circuit Model dialog box appears after Maxwell has finished loading.

2. Specify a Name for the component. See Names of Components and Variables for naming conventions.
   Note:

   The model generated with this component is given the same name as the component. Also, the specified name cannot be the same as any existing coupling component and/or model.

3. In the Source Project & Design panel, click to locate and choose the Maxwell EC model .aedt file containing the design you want to add.
   Note:

   • Design names must avoid using illegal characters such as the “space” character. Illegal characters are replaced with an underscore character. See Names of Components and Variables for additional information.

The selected project loads into Maxwell.

4. Based on the Source file and the Link Type (Maxwell Equivalent Circuit Link), Twin Builder communicates with Maxwell to load the selected file. A list of designs is retrieved from the Maxwell file and displayed in the Design drop-down list.

The dialog box’s Information panel also updates to show the Number of Conservative Pins and various other Quantities present in the selected model. You can add pins to the model for listed Quantities.

5. Select the Design you want to use from the drop-down list. You will have all the designs in the drop-down list, with the design name followed by the Maxwell solution type in parentheses.

The transient solution is typically much faster than the parametric analysis of magnetostatic or electrostatic solutions. The equivalent circuit model of a Maxwell design with transient solution type supports a winding model, 3-phase model, and rotational model.

6. Click Extract Equivalent Circuit.

The Export Equivalent Circuit > From Parametric Solutions wizard launches in Maxwell. See the Maxwell documentation for help with the wizard.

The Maxwell Desktop displays with the Export Equivalent Circuit wizard running. Select the Model Type from the list below for further instructions:

• Linear Motion
• Rotational Motion
• Matrix
• Transformer
• Lookup Table

When finished with the wizard, the Quantities listing updates. Select any parameter pins you want to include in the imported model.

7. On the Options tab, choose to show either the Pin Name or Pin Description on the new component. Pin names display by default.
   Note:

   Pin description properties are always added to the component regardless of whether they are selected to be shown with pins.

• If you chose Pin Description when adding the component, you can subsequently enable individual pin names. Open the component symbol in the symbol editor, delete a pin’s description, double-click the pin and enable ShowName in the pin properties dialog box.
• If you chose Pin Name when adding the component, you can subsequently hide individual pin names. Open the component symbol in the symbol editor, double-click a pin and disable ShowName in the pin properties dialog box. You can then add descriptive text to the pin using the editor’s Draw > Text tool.
• Select the Unload project after use check box to cause Maxwell to close the project and shut down after the Twin Builder simulation is complete. This will release the Maxwell license.

8. When finished, click OK to accept the values.

Twin Builder generates the equivalent circuit model component and closes the dialog box.

9. Place the component on the schematic sheet.
10. After placing the component on a sheet, its Properties dialog box may be opened for configuration of the component. The component includes the following outputs on the Quantities tab, which may be plotted in display elements or saved with simulation results:
    • For each winding, the current, terminal voltage, flux linkage, and internal EMF
    • Total core loss
    • Total winding conductor loss
    • For linear motion, the force, displacement, and velocity
    • For rotational motion, the torque, angle, and speed
    Note:

    Right-click the component and select Edit Model for a description of the ports in the component.

The Equivalent Circuit coupling configuration is saved with the schematic sheet. Twin Builder must establish a link to Maxwell each time the simulation runs.