Magnetics Design Platform Now Supports Planar Transformers, Thermal Modeling
Frenetic recently updated its web-based custom magnetics design platform with new capabilities, including a planar magnetics design and simulation tool. The updated package also features potting simulation and liquid-cooling plate modeling, intended to help the automotive sector and other applications that must deal with demanding thermal constraints and power densities.
This functionality was developed to help designers address the challenges arising from higher switching frequencies and power levels; more compact, integrated designs; and planar magnetics that are becoming increasingly common in modern power systems.
Dr. Chema Molina, founder and CEO of Frenetic, said, “The challenge was not only to enable planar magnetics design and simulation, but to do so while maintaining the level of accuracy engineers expect. Frenetic Planar — our design and simulation tool — addresses this by combining the accuracy typically associated with finite element method (FEM) approaches with the speed of its proprietary analytical models.
“This allows engineers to quickly explore and validate designs with an average of ~94% accuracy in just a few minutes, enabling significantly faster iterations compared to traditional workflows. We introduced this function to our customers at the end of last year and already around 80% are using it.”
The new potting simulation capability allows automotive engineers to account for the thermal and electromagnetic impact of resin materials surrounding the transformer, which can significantly affect component behavior. And cooling plate/liquid-cooling support makes it possible to model metallic cooling structures integrated into the transformer and connected to liquid-cooling systems, a growing requirement in high-power automotive applications.
Click here for additional information on the Frenetic Planar design and simulation tool, and here for additional information on the Frenetic Simulator platform.
About the Author
Lee Goldberg
Contributing Editor
Lee is the author of the popular PowerBites series.
Lee Goldberg is a self-identified “Recovering Engineer,” Maker/Hacker, Green-Tech Maven, Aviator, Gadfly, and Geek Dad. He spent the first 18 years of his career helping design microprocessors, embedded systems, renewable energy applications, and the occasional interplanetary spacecraft. After trading his ‘scope and soldering iron for a keyboard and a second career as a tech journalist, he’s spent the next two decades at several print and online engineering publications.
Lee’s current focus is power electronics, especially the technologies involved with energy efficiency, energy management, and renewable energy. This dovetails with his coverage of sustainable technologies and various environmental and social issues within the engineering community that he began in 1996. Lee also covers 3D printers, open-source hardware, and other Maker/Hacker technologies.
Lee holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Thomas Edison College, and participated in a colloquium on technology, society, and the environment at Goddard College’s Institute for Social Ecology. His book, “Green Electronics/Green Bottom Line - A Commonsense Guide To Environmentally Responsible Engineering and Management,” was published by Newnes Press.
Lee, his wife Catherine, and his daughter Anwyn currently reside in the outskirts of Princeton N.J., where they masquerade as a typical suburban family.