Motor-CAD

Motor-CAD, a software package for analyzing electric motors and generators electromagnetically and thermally, has been on the market since 1999 and is produced by Motor Design Ltd. It includes modules tailored to various machine types, such as brushless permanent magnet motors, induction motors, switched reluctance machines, and claw pole designs. The software’s electromagnetic module uses an integrated fast finite element method to predict performance, while its thermal module combines lumped-circuit and finite-element calculations to optimize cooling systems.

Supported cooling methods range from natural convection and forced convection to water jackets, spray cooling, and wet rotor configurations, and it can model numerous housing types. A Lab module works alongside the electromagnetic and thermal modules to generate efficiency maps and transient outputs for drive cycles in minutes, aiding early design exploration.

Thermal analysis of electric machines is generally considered more difficult than electromagnetic analysis, both in model construction and achievable accuracy. Its importance has grown with the push for energy efficiency and compact designs, especially in aerospace and automotive sectors where size, weight, and efficiency are critical. Motor-CAD enables engineers to address both electromagnetic and thermal aspects early in the design process. Compared to other thermal modeling techniques like computational fluid dynamics, Motor-CAD has been shown to deliver similar accuracy in a fraction of the time.