Wireless Charging overview

CENOS : WCH (Wireless Charging) is a specialized simulation software for engineers designing wireless power transfer systems in various applications – electric vehicles, industrial robots and consumer electronics with Qi and Qi2 standards supported.

First, the user imports a CAD model of their system. Then, the software allows defining physical and process parameters tailored to wireless charging simulations. Finally, results can be reviewed by engineers to make further design decisions. Additionally, the software allows users to re-load modified CAD files while preserving all simulation settings and definitions.

When opening CENOS, you start at the Desk View, which contains the four main components of the software that take you through the full workflow from simulation setup through to results exploration: Geometry, Physics, Meshing and Results.

This article contains an overview of how to set up and run a simulation within CENOS: Wireless Charging. You can find a full list of all features here.

Geometry

There are two main ways to start setting up your simulation, you can choose from two different geometry sources: select a template or import a CAD. The template is the easiest method, you just have to input geometry parameters. However, import CAD is more flexible, you can import a step file prepared elsewhere and it is possible to import one or multiple STEP or IGES files.

We recommend reading our “What makes a good CAD geometry” article to make sure that your system CAD file is set up in the most optimal way.

CENOS contains several automations that simplify the simulation setup compared to other simulation tools:

• CENOS can detect and slice coil geometries automatically. Coils don’t need to be geometrically complicated – in CENOS it is not necessary to provide a cross-section face, making it much easier to prepare a coil geometry for simulation. Note that coils are closed and should be made as solid volumes, since the geometrical layout such as number of windings and strands will be defined in later in the physics setup.
• CENOS can automatically generate an airbox around your system.
• Before moving on to the Physics section, you need to define geometry roles in your system, such as transmitter and receiver coils, ferrites and any conductors. Geometry roles are used to simplify and customize the next simulation steps, such as Physics, Meshing and Results.

Physics

The Physics section is divided into several tabs – a simulation control tab and a tab for each domain in your system, which lets you focus on defining material or process properties relevant for each object. The domains are created based on the geometry roles that were defined in the previous step.

In the simulation control tab you have to define general system parameters, such as

• the operational frequency of your system,
• choosing transient or steady state simulation and setting the process time,
• defining the time step for the simulation,
• turn on LTspice integration, if required.

Then you have to define the system parameters for each domain separately:

• Transmitter and receiver coils will already have some pre-defined parameters – by default we set the material to be copper.
• All other ambient objects in the system, such as ferrites and conductors, have to be defined. For these you can select a material from our material library or create a new material.
• Thermal analysis can be enabled for all objects. This can be enabled at the top of each object’s tab, and additional parameters will have to be provided under the Thermal Analysis section.

Additionally, in CENOS it is easy to define motion for any object inside the Motion tab. More instructions are available in the “Defining motion” article.

Meshing

After setting up the Physics section, there are two ways to continue:

• the easiest way is to directly click RUN in the top right corner – CENOS will automatically generate a mesh for your system and start the calculation,
• or you can first click on the “3. MESH” section to inspect the mesh and refine it if necessary.

To learn more about meshing, please read the “Manual meshing tips & tricks” article. Additionally, we recommend reading our “What makes a good CAD geometry” article to make sure that your system CAD file is set up in the most optimal way.

Results

Once CENOS has finished your calculation, our custom-built post-processing visualization tool will automatically open to let you evaluate and explore your simulation results.

Within CENOS : Wireless Charing, you can obtain and explore the following results:

Thermal analysis:

• Transient heating of all objects
• Overheating evaluation
• Thermal management improvement

Electromagnetic analysis:

• Magnetic field distribution in and around the system
• Current distribution in the system

Electrical outputs:

• Coupling
  • Coupling coefficient
  • Mutual inductance
• Losses – eddy losses, hysteresis losses
• Coil parameters:
  • Current
  • Voltage
  • Active power
  • Resistance
  • Inductance
  • Q factor

More resources

To learn more about different simulation capabilities of CENOS, you can read more in these articles:

• What makes a good CAD geometry
• Defining motion
• Manual meshing tips & tricks
• Speeding up simulations

If you encounter any issues or want to learn more about how to improve your simulations in CENOS, do not hesitate to contact us through the live support chat inside the CENOS application or email us at support@cenos-platform.com.