Best way to model electrical windings?
Best way to model electrical windings?
(OP)
Company I work for now often works with windings, and by that I mean wire wrapped around various shaped objects, creating coils. Not always round tubes, sometimes squares or odd-ball shaped objects.
What I have been doing is to use a trajectory and then creating an extrusion along that, which is just a bunch of circles tangent to one another. I then pattern that normal to the trajectory and that gives me a fairly good representation of the windings.
In reality, the windings aren't wrapped this way, as they are really wrapped at a slight angle, and the ends overlap as they change direction and wrap in the other direction when starting the next layer.
Any ideas on how to best model something like this?
What I have been doing is to use a trajectory and then creating an extrusion along that, which is just a bunch of circles tangent to one another. I then pattern that normal to the trajectory and that gives me a fairly good representation of the windings.
In reality, the windings aren't wrapped this way, as they are really wrapped at a slight angle, and the ends overlap as they change direction and wrap in the other direction when starting the next layer.
Any ideas on how to best model something like this?





RE: Best way to model electrical windings?
im4cad
Pro Design Services, Inc.
http://www.cadproe.com/pds/home.asp
RE: Best way to model electrical windings?
I figured if I ever got *really* bored one day, I could figure out a formula for the curves to do this. But, it'd be limited to a circle most likely to keep the formulas somewhat simpler.
Basically... I just don't think there is a good way to do this.
RE: Best way to model electrical windings?
im4cad
Pro Design Services, Inc.
http://www.cadproe.com/pds/home.asp
RE: Best way to model electrical windings?
RE: Best way to model electrical windings?
r=4
theta=360*10*t
z=evalgraph("z_graph",t*10)
Where z_graph would be a datum graph named z_graph with two diagonal lines one up and one down with a fillet between them with x range 10 inches.
For a magnet type shape you would have to use two VSS "Var Sec Sweep" surfaces with straight lines driven by a datum graph for angle.
I'll try to create an example and send you a pic.
Helical sweeps don't work as easily for what I think you're describing.
Michael
RE: Best way to model electrical windings?
Yes, that sounds about what I'm looking for. I look forward to an example, as I didn't quite follow everything you said. Youl could e-mail the prt file to me, swheeler@fosmiltech.com
Thanks!!!!!!!!!
RE: Best way to model electrical windings?
Even my electromagnetic FEA is quite happy with the envelope model. It automatically calculates the coil resistance for a stranded coil from the material conductivity and the number of turns. I use the zinc cross hatch pattern in drawings to make the coil look more "stranded".
I can not think of any applications where there is value added from modeling the coil exactly. Even if you want to calculate wire length or resistance, it won't be accurate because the winding tension tends to stretch the wire and deform the round cross section into a hex.