Ansys Maxwell: High Frequency Transformer + PCB Planar

This lecture demonstrates how to locate and use PEmag examples in the Ansys Maxwell installation, exploring inductors, toroids, wire, transformers, and winding structures to study high-frequency power transformer simulations.

Learn to build a high frequency transformer model in Ansys Maxwell, including defining gaps, arranging half-primary windings, tapes and foil, and configuring series/parallel connections before running start model generation.

Generate pmag and Maxwell 2D/3D transformer results, analyzing magnetizing inductance near 246 µH with a 1.5 mm gap and how AC resistance rises with frequency.

Transfer p mag to maxwell in 3d, set up the 3d link and symmetry, then use the transient solver to study time-varying currents and skin effects in a flyback transformer.

Compare magneto static, eddy current, and transient solvers in Maxwell, noting dc, sinusoidal, and time varying fields with skin and proximity effects, and explain excitation options for transformers and inductors.

Learn voltage excitation for transformers in Ansys Maxwell, using square-wave sources and optional external excitation; add a 1 ohm resistor to avoid errors; inductors use current excitation.

Set up a flyback circuit in Simpler to excite the transformer's primary and secondary, then push those currents as Maxwell 3D excitations for the transformer analysis.

shows how to work around no push excitation in Maxwell 3D by exporting waveforms and importing them into Maxwell data sets to analyze primary and secondary inductance currents.

Configure shield winding in Maxwell 3D by making a slit in the copper foil, assigning an insulating boundary, and subtracting a box to isolate primary and secondary for EMC.

Adjust the air gap in Maxwell 3D to tune transformer inductance by moving selected faces along their normals. Increase or decrease the gap by about one millimeter.

Set up external excitation in Maxwell to model unequal current distribution among four windings, and compare startup inrush with steady-state behavior using a DC source circuit.

Set up external excitation in Maxwell by exporting the net list as external_excitation.sp, editing the external circuit for a 3d transient, and validating current balance after importing the circuit.

Create excitations in Maxwell 2D using design datasets by assigning excitation coils and shield foil, setting zero amps, and organizing design data sets.

Explore Maxwell 2D eddy effects by exporting and importing excitation data for primary and secondary windings, setting boundary conditions and vector potential, and running a transient core transformer simulation.

Plot the 2D Maxwell mesh and adjust the air gap, then reassess inductance and fringing flux, ensuring correct permeability units and tesla for core loss.

Learn to calculate leakage inductance in a high frequency transformer using an eddy current solver in 2d current mode, with primary and secondary windings parallel and a reduced matrix setup.

Compute leakage inductance at 100 kHz with the eddy current solver using L_primary times (1 − k^2) with coupling coefficient k, yielding 5 uH in a data table.

Explore three methods to calculate leakage inductance in high-frequency transformers: a coupling-coefficient method, a matrix method using l11, l12, l21, l22 and pn, and a short-circuit LCR-based approach.

Calculate parasitic capacitance between primary and secondary windings, including mutual (intertwining) capacitance and self (intra binding) capacitance. Use the electrostatic solver in Maxwell to model 3D electrostatic fields and charges.

Assign one-volt excitations to all windings and zero to the shield, set parameters and matrix, run an electrostatic analysis, and extract parasitic capacitances between windings.

Compute the DC and AC winding resistance across frequency using an eddy current approach, and explain skin depth, proximity effects, and interleaving to reduce losses.

Assign matrices to form primary and secondary windings, create reduced matrices, and set up a dc resistance at 0.001 hertz with a sweep 1 khz–1 mhz to generate current reports.

Analyze the impedance matrix for dc and ac losses across frequency, noting the difficulty of separating them and the benefit of litz wire.

Set up windings on both legs of a transformer in PEMag by creating bobbins, choosing wire sizes, adding insulation, and defining turns and connections for a complete coil model.

Learn to simulate a Maxwell transformer in Simplorer by adding series inductance and resistance to improve convergence, then set up a transient analysis from 0.1 microseconds to 10 milliseconds.

Modify the transformer core in Maxwell by creating a relative coordinate system offset, splitting the core into three halves with modular boolean split, and uniting the results to adjust dimensions.

Explore planar transformer design fundamentals for PCB-based power conversion, detailing copper thickness options, trace width and spacing, edge clearance, and primary-to-secondary insulation per IEC standards.

Set wire emissivity values 0.3 and 0.8; copper thickness 178 micrometers and width 0.178 millimeters; winding setup not set; analyze track layers tapping into 24 or 48 volts and losses.

Design a pcb planar high-frequency power transformer—forward transformer (contd.) in Ansys Maxwell, detailing insulators, fr4 materials, and winding configurations with 0.5 winding distance and 0.4 mm safety gaps.

Fill the bobbin width with copper foil to complete the winding, configure insulation including FR4, and foil layers in the planar transformer tutorial in Ansys Maxwell.

Design a 14-layer planar transformer for a 1 kW LLC converter (48 V to 12 V) using Ultium PCB and Maxwell to model the EPC 9149.

Design and assemble a planar transformer for a 1 kW LLC resonant converter from 48 V input to 12 V output by thickening sheets, creating shapes, mirroring, and aligning features.

Model a 1 kW planar transformer in Ansys Maxwell by thickening copper to 2 oz, spacing shield and winding, and creating coil terminals for primary and secondary windings.

Build the planar transformer geometry for the EPC9149 LLC resonant converter by editing circles, moving and snapping elements, and applying boolean subtract operations to align rectangles and circles.

Corrects a previous lecture by clarifying current direction and flux in the primary, and demonstrates modeling the primary like the secondary with coil terminals in Ansys Maxwell.

In Ansys Maxwell, learn to build the 1 kW planar transformer for an LLC resonant converter by creating fourth-layer slits, duplicating and renaming coil terminals, and assigning excitations across layers.

Configure a planar transformer for a 1 kW LLC resonant converter by creating and assigning excitation coil terminals, arranging primary and secondary windings, and aligning shield components.

Examine Ansys Maxwell simulations for a PCB planar high-frequency transformer (EPC9149 LLC) showing peak core and copper losses, flux density near 2.5 μs, and inductance around 2.4 μH.