Type of Awards: SBIR Phase I and Phase II with Funded Enhancements
Subcontractors: Purdue
Contract Numbers: F33615-03-M-2385 and FA8650-04-C-2482
Agency: U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory
Status: Completed
Periods: 7/10/03 to 4/10/04 and 6/4/04 to 2/24/09
Principal Investigator: E. A. Walters
Abstract: PC Krause and Associates, Inc. (PCKA) has developed two key technologies in modeling, simulation, and analysis for support of the design and optimization of large-scale systems. The first of these key technologies is a partitioned finite-element (FE) technique wherein computation times for transient FE models have been reduced by two-orders of magnitude when compared to a commercial FE simulator and has been applied to permanent-magnet, switched-reluctance, and wound-rotor synchronous machines. This increase in computational speed has enabled FE models to be integrated with circuit simulations as part of a design optimization algorithm wherein tradeoffs can be rapidly evaluated in a systematic search for a globally optimal design. The second technology is a variable-fidelity multi-physics simulation infrastructure that enables the user to select between finite-element models that may require hours to days of simulation time through constructive (algebraic) models that may execute hundreds to thousands of times faster than real time.