Duty Cycle Data File

Duty cycle data can be read in to Motor-CAD from an external data file. This allows for easy transfer of data between models and also allows the user to bring in duty cycle data from an external source.

The file format is a tab-separated text file with the file extension .dat. The header lines define the duty cycle notes, motor type, duty cycle file format, and duty cycle definition options.

There is then a line containing the text 'Duty_Cycle_Data=' which indicates the start of the duty cycle data. After this line, the column headers define what data is contained in the file and then each row of data defines a period in the cycle.

When saving a duty cycle from Motor-CAD, all possible data columns will be included in the file. When loading a duty cycle it is not necessary to have all columns present - any data that is in the file will be loaded into Motor-CAD but any columns that are missing will be set to their default values. Motor-CAD detects the data present in the file based on the column header text so it is important that this matches the column header text from the exported file.

Values in the duty cycle file will be saved/loaded as absolute or per unit values depending on the selected Duty Cycle Input Type.

When creating a new duty cycle data file it is recommended to start from an existing file. This can be done by setting the duty cycle options to the required values, saving the duty cycle data as an external file and then editing the file with the desired values.

Previous Version Compatibility

Previous versions of Motor-CAD (v12 and earlier) used different file formats for loading duty cycles in the Thermal and Lab contexts. These can be loaded into current versions of Motor-CAD, however duty cycles saved in the current format cannot be opened in any version of Motor-CAD before v13.

Duty cycle files can be saved in a format compatible with previous versions of Motor-CAD by setting the type to Motor-CAD v9-v12 Duty Cycle Data.