Ansys Charge Plus

Ansys Charge Plus (formerly EMA3D® Charge)

Ansys Charge Plus (formerly EMA3D® Charge) is the simulation software designed for the analysis of charging and discharging phenomena. It uses time-domain solvers to simulate electric arcing, material surface and internal charging, 3D particle transport, and dielectric breakdown. It can be used to assess and manage risks associated with excessive charge build up in a product where electrification is a concern. Ansys Charge Plus is used at the design phase for the prevention of material degradation, surface flashovers, and EM interference in harsh radiation environments or high voltage systems. Charging effects due to high-energy particles, precipitation static, low-energy plasmas, solar illumination, and friction electrification may be extremely consequential. With Ansys Charge Plus it is possible to study electric charge imbalance in both space and ground applications. The numerical solutions designed to tackle surface charging, internal charging, and air or dielectric breakdown are combined into streamlined workflow incorporated into the Ansys Discovery | 3D Product Simulation Software. In this optimized workflow, one can easily prepare 3D CAD models, assign charging material properties and environments, mesh your model, run, and analyze simulations.

With Ansys Charge Plus, customers can address:

Air breakdown in high-voltage systems taking advantage of a finite-element time difference method and a non-linear air chemistry module arcing at various air density and humidity.

Simulation of surface flashovers on a PCB design in SpaceClaim (left) and resulting flashover current (right).
Arcing in a high-voltage disconnect switch (Left) and resulting current waveform (right).

Surface Charging due to triboelectrification and low- or high- energy plasma environments using highly optimized charge balance equation solvers.

Surface charging environment of a spacecraft on the lunar surface

Internal Charging of solid materials from high-energy particle fluxes leveraging the coupling of a 3D particle transport source and a full-wave electromagnetic finite element method (FEM) solution.

Electric fields resulting from charge deposition in the dielectric of a pin connector (left) and in a dielectric slab with a rivet (right).

Coupled Charging simulations take advantage of the charge balance equations solvers, the FEM, or the 3D particle transport tool to self-consistently solve the 3D E-fields generated from a surface charging problem.

Dielectric Breakdown in a solid dielectric materials is simulated once the local fields exceed the dielectric strength of a given material, using the coupling of the FEM with the 3D particle source and a stochastic tree model to reproduce the treeing present in electronic discharges.

Dielectric breakdown initiating from the tip of a rivet.

EMA has developed the world’s first commercial Space Environment and Radiation Effects (SERE) test facility in conjunction with Ansys Charge Plus, the first dynamically coupled surface and internal charging commercial software. The combination of both will make analyzing the performance of materials in the space plasma environment more efficient and accurate than ever before.

Contact EMA®‘s team of experts to learn more about Ansys Charge Plus, here.

Ansys Charge Plus is sold exclusively through Ansys, if you are interested in purchasing this software click here.

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