Nodal Forces

The Nodal Forces module, which works seamlessly with MagNet or ElecNet, calculates the forces experienced on the surfaces of components. All calculations and field displays are performed automatically, and the force distribution can be viewed, in either of the Infolytica products mentioned above, as a shaded plot or as an arrow plot. The values at the nodes are automatically written into a text file, which can then be imported into a structural program. The forces at the nodes are useful for vibration analysis, or the study of structural deformation on the components that are experiencing the force.

For this gallery page we have selected a 4-pole Switch Reluctance Motor device as our subject model. The model was solved using MagNet's Static 2D solver and the Rotor component was parameterized to simulate movement, thereby creating a multiple-position solution.

Results

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Step #1

Running the Nodal Forces module opens a dialog box in which we indicate the Input File (the location of the solved model), the Problem Id (e.g., 4), and the Output File (the location of the text file that will contain the values of the nodes for the selected problem). Once these data fields are complete, clicking the Calculate Nodal Forces button performs the calculations automatically, writes the data to the text file, and then displays the arrow plot of the nodal forces in the View window.

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Step #2

This illustration to the right is of the View window, in MagNet, displaying the arrow plot of the nodal forces for Problem 4 of the Switch Reluctance Motor model.

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Step #3

The text file provides the nodal forces by component and by node. The data is presented in the following format:

by component
e.g.,
Component: Racetrack 1 side 1
Force: (0.818640948478018, -0.145993735325645, 0)
Torque: (0, 0, -0.029735750237431)

by node
e.g.,
Node 5 coordinates: (-90.6099006533623, -65.8318996429443, 0)
Force: (-5.70549206745215E-02, -4.14800078678928E-02, 0)
Torque: (0, 0, 2.46558002919752E-06)