解決熱管理挑戰(zhàn)對自動駕駛汽車的發(fā)展至關(guān)重要。西門子 PLM 的全新 Simcenter 集成模擬包可為用戶提供高度保真、簡單易用的模擬解決方案。
解決熱管理挑戰(zhàn)對自動駕駛汽車的發(fā)展至關(guān)重要。西門子 PLM 的全新 Simcenter 集成模擬包可為用戶提供高度保真、簡單易用的模擬解決方案。
西門子 PLM 最近推出了一款新的 Simcenter 熱管理軟件模擬解決方案，專門用于自動駕駛電動汽車（AEV）開發(fā)，可以幫助工程師快速解決車輛在大功率電子設(shè)備熱管理方面的挑戰(zhàn)。
據(jù)了解，西門子在開發(fā)這款工具時專門優(yōu)化了模擬速度和易用性。汽車制造商已經(jīng)意識到，傳統(tǒng) CAE 模擬工具的確也可以滿足需求，但將模擬技術(shù)限制在少數(shù)專家手里會導(dǎo)致項目進展緩慢且成本昂貴。對此，當(dāng)務(wù)之急是尋找一套可供特定自動駕駛組件的設(shè)計與發(fā)布工程師使用的專門軟件，也就是實現(xiàn)所謂的“CAE 技術(shù)民主化”。在此背景下，西門子 PLM 的軟件模擬解決方案應(yīng)運而生，也正是希望加速“CAE 技術(shù)民主化”的進程。
綜合物理學(xué)
自動駕駛汽車均會配備傳感器融合裝置，耗電相當(dāng)巨大，對熱管理有很高需求。事實上，功率和熱負載管理對內(nèi)燃發(fā)動機也同樣重要，但對電動汽車卻可以說決定成?。弘姵亟M的溫度不能太低，傳感器和電子設(shè)備的溫度不能太高。對于每一丁點電量都非常寶貴的電動汽車而言，對熱功率進行有效管理可以發(fā)揮巨大作用。西門子稱，如果不進行優(yōu)化，光是車載電子元件耗電就會砍掉車輛 35% 的續(xù)航里程。
西門子的新型集成 CAE 解決方案套裝集成了 Simcenter 的三種 CAE 模擬工具，分別為用于三維熱傳分析的 FLOEFD、用于電機設(shè)計的MotorSolve，及用于電傳動系統(tǒng)熱能管理的 Flomaster，達到了讓這三種工具相互聯(lián)通的目的。僅此一套工具不僅可以模擬組件的熱動力系統(tǒng)和電傳動系統(tǒng)性能，還能在“電機性能模擬”和“電氣和熱管理系統(tǒng)模擬”之間實現(xiàn)聯(lián)通。
FloEFDCFD 是一款功能完整的三維流體流動和熱傳分析工具，可提供多孔介質(zhì)、印刷電路板和 LED 等多種工程模型，還集成了電子元件冷卻模塊，可以對圍繞熱管理對電子元件進行精密建模。此外，該工具還可提供針對電動汽車電池的“電化學(xué)—熱模擬”功能。據(jù)西門子稱，目前，F(xiàn)loEFD CFD 工具已經(jīng)集成至克里歐（Creo）、CATIA V5、Siemens NX、Solid Edge 等多個主流 MCAD 系統(tǒng)。
MotorSolve是一款專門的電機設(shè)計和分析軟件，可以基于有限元分析、自動網(wǎng)格細化、后處理技術(shù)及儲備領(lǐng)域知識，計算設(shè)計人員希望了解的設(shè)計參數(shù)，適用于無刷直流電機、感應(yīng)電機、開關(guān)磁阻電機和有刷直流電機等。
Flomaster是一款一維求解器，適用于熱流體等可以進行一維建模的系統(tǒng)。為了提高模擬精度，工程人員可以先使用之前提到的 FLOEFD 對單個組件進行三維建模，然后將這些模型導(dǎo)入 Flomaster 進行系統(tǒng)性的一維模擬。西門子 PLM 的 MAD 汽車經(jīng)理 PuneetSinha 表示，“我們的一維和三維 CFD 解決方案是相互聯(lián)通的。”
給工程師使用
Simcenter熱管理軟件模擬軟件的預(yù)期用戶是主流汽車工程師。Sinha 認為，新軟件采用了模擬自動化、內(nèi)置數(shù)據(jù)庫和數(shù)據(jù)模型表示等手段，易用性大大提高。
Sinha 表示，“電氣、電子和機械領(lǐng)域存在千絲萬縷的聯(lián)系。”這套軟件首發(fā)時還會增加優(yōu)化設(shè)計和創(chuàng)成設(shè)計的功能，且這些功能還會在后續(xù)發(fā)布中逐步增強。
Sinha 表示，這種組合套件特別適合為傳動系統(tǒng)、處理器和傳感器生成熱管理模擬“數(shù)字模型”，而這些技術(shù)正是下一代自動駕駛汽車的關(guān)鍵使能技術(shù)。這樣一來，西門子軟件在自動駕駛汽車研發(fā)中可以發(fā)揮的作用不言而喻。未來，西門子將在這套工具的基礎(chǔ)上繼續(xù)推動“CAE 技術(shù)民主化”，也就是提供可以給非專家人士使用的 CAE 工具。這也意味著，未來，西門子 FLOEFD 用戶在使用工具時不再需要了解各種 CFD 復(fù)雜參數(shù)，比如網(wǎng)格創(chuàng)建、層流或湍流模型的選擇等。
Solving thermal challenges is vital to AEV development. Siemens PLM’s new Simcenter integrated simulation package offers a high-fidelity, easy-to-use solution.
Siemens PLM recently introduced a new Simcenter software solution for thermal simulation used in autonomous electric vehicle (AEV) development. The product is designed to help engineers quickly solve heat-related challenges related to the vehicles’ high- power electronics.
Speed and ease-of-use were important considerations in development of this tool. While traditional CAE simulations are useful, automakers are finding that restricting simulations to a few experts leads to a slow and costly engineering process. The answer is software that a design-and-release engineer devoted to specific AEV components can exercise. In general, this has come to be known as the “democratization of CAE,” and Siemens PLM hopes to accelerate this trend with the new offering.
Integrated physics
AEVs, with their power-hungry sensor fusion boxes, have significant thermal-management demands. While properly addressing these power and thermal loads is important even in combustion-engine automated vehicles, it is paramount in battery electrics. Keeping the battery pack not too cold, and the sensors and electronics not too hot, makes all the difference when every fraction of a kilowatt hour counts. The electronics alone, if not optimized, can reduce an AEV’s range by as much as 35%, according to Siemens.
The new integrated CAE solution package combines three of Simcenter’s CAE simulations: FLOEFD for 3-D thermal analysis; MotorSolve for electric motor design, and Flomaster, a 1-D CAE for electric powertrain thermal energy management. All three are now linked—for component thermal and electric powertrain performance, connectivity between simulation of electric motor performance and system simulation for electrical and thermal management.
FloEFD CFD is full-featured 3-D fluid flow and heat transfer analysis. It includes engineering models such as porous media, PCB and LED model. It is built into major MCAD systems such as Creo, CATIA V5, Siemens NX, Solid Edge, according to Siemens. It also includes an electronics cooling module for detailed thermal modeling of electronic models. Battery electrochemical-thermal simulation capabilities are available.
MotorSolve is Siemens’ design and analysis software for brushless DC, induction, switched reluctance and brushed DC machines. It is based on finite element analysis with automatic mesh refinement, post-processing and domain knowledge to compute design parameters that are of interest to a motor designer.
The third element, Flomaster, is a 1-D solver for thermo-fluid system or other simulations that can be captured in 1-D. For higher accuracy, individual components can be solved in 3-D using FLOEFD, and then summarized and connected in the 1-D Flomaster model. “The 1-D and 3-D CFD solutions are dynamically linked simulations,” said Puneet Sinha, MAD Automotive Manager at Siemens PLM.
In the hands of engineers
Just as important as the physics is the intended user: mainstream automotive engineers. Enhancing ease of use, according to Sinha, are simulation automation, a built-in database, and model representation from data.
“There is a seamless connection among electrical, electronics, and mechanical domains,” he said. There will also be some access to design optimization and generative design capabilities in this initial roll-out. He anticipates these features to be strengthened in future releases.
The combined package is especially useful for generating thermal “digital twin” simulations of the powertrain, processors, and sensors, according to Sinha. These and other key enabling technologies are anticipated to be used in next-generation AEV designs. This latest tool can be viewed as a further development in the “democratization of CAE” trend among CAE providers in the last few years. This movement views accessibility of CAE to non-specialists as the next, vital step in making CAE useful to industry. This also means that the user of Siemens’ FLOEFD software, in particular, will not need to know about some of the trickier aspects of CFD, such as mesh creation, selection of a laminar or turbulence flow model, or what type of turbulence model to apply.
Author: Bruce Morey
Source: Autonomous Vehicle Engineering
西門子PLM 的熱管理模擬軟件強調(diào)了維護數(shù)字主線的重要性。（圖片來源：SIEMENS PLM）
西門子專為自動駕駛汽車的熱管理模擬推出了全新的Simcenter 解決方案。該方案用一種易于使用的格式，結(jié)合了公司現(xiàn)有的三個解決方案，實現(xiàn)了電氣、電子和機械模擬的無縫聯(lián)通。（圖片來源：SIEMENS PLM）