Towards a Computational Electric Machine Laboratory
TU Darmstadt, TU Graz, JKU Linz and RICAM (ÖAW) collaborate in the first German-Austrian Collaborative Research Centre/Transregio CREATOR – Computational Electrical Machine Laboratory (TRR361/F90). It is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Austrian Science Fund FWF. The interdisciplinary project consists of 18 principal investigators and more than 20 doctoral researchers from engineering, materials science and mathematics and several industry collaborators, e.g. from Siemens, Robert Bosch GmbH and Motor-CAD (Ansys).
The research focusses on the improvement of the simulation-based design workflow of electric machines. While drive systems are operated in different environments and at variable speeds, current design procedures usually start with an expert’s choice for a particular machine type and topology. Dimensioning is then based on a limited number of parameters and well-chosen operation modes, typically at constant speed or torque. Thereby considerable opportunities for optimisation are missed. Only a paradigm shift towards a fundamentally new integrated simulation and design approach will allow the potential of modern electric drives to be fully exploited. In several subprojects well-known mathematical and computational challenges are addressed, e.g.
- Adaptive discretisation, in particular by isogeometric analysis
- Model order reduction
- Modelling and Identification of Hysteresis
- Simulation of fluid-cooling with droplets and aerosols in rotating geometries
- Shape and topology optimisation and design of experiment
- Space-time formulation and domain decomposition
- Port-Hamiltonian and energy-based modelling
- Uncertainty Quantification and machine learning
Coordinators of the CRC are Annette Mütze and Sebastian Schöps. Additionally, three Mercator Fellows are integrated into the research activities: Anouar Belahcen, Annalisa Buffa and Shanelle N. Foster.