Interfacing to the ANSYS Simulation Tools from Altium NEXUS

This documentation page references Altium NEXUS/NEXUS Client (part of the deployed NEXUS solution), which has been discontinued. All your PCB design, data management and collaboration needs can now be delivered by Altium Designer and a connected Altium 365 Workspace. Check out the FAQs page for more information.

 

ANSYS® Engineering Simulation Software

ANSYS develop engineering simulation software for use in a range of engineering disciplines, including electronic design. ANSYS brings together a broad range of analysis and simulation tools into a single interface, called ANSYS® Electronics Desktop™. Using ANSYS Electronics Desktop, engineers can integrate rigorous 2D and 3D physics analyses with system and circuit simulations, all inside a single framework.

ANSYS SIwave is a design platform for power integrity, signal integrity and EMI analysis, that can be used for both printed circuit boards and IC design.

ECAD software, such as Altium NEXUS, can interface to ANSYS Electronics Desktop by exporting the PCB layout as an EDB file.

Learn more about ANSYS® SIwave™

Interfacing to ANSYS® Electronics Desktop™

The PCB layout is transferred to ANSYS Electronics Desktop by exporting it as an EDB file. The exported file is generated by the Ansys EDB extension.

Installing the EDB Extension

To export an ANSYS EDB file, the ANSYS EDB Exporter extension must be installed in Altium NEXUS.

To install an extension, click the down arrow at the top right of the application to access the Extensions & Updates, where the Ansys EDB extension can be located and installed from the Purchased tab, as shown in the image below.

Exporting the Design from Altium NEXUS

To export the PCB layout, along with the components and connectivity, select File » Export » Ansys EDB from the PCB editor menus.

The exported data is written into a file in an automatically created EDB folder, named as follows:

\[Project folder]\[Project name].edb\edb.def

Exported Data

The following PCB objects are exported:

  • Copper objects (tracks, arcs, fills, regions, polygons, pads)
  • Vias
  • Components
  • Board layers, including the following supported layer material properties (defined in the Layer Stack Manager):
    • Permittivity (note that the Permittivity (dielectric constant) is set only for dielectric layers).
    • Permeability
    • Conductivity (the default value of 5.8e7 is set for electric layers).
    • DielectricLossTangent
    • MagneticLossTangent
  • Board outline, from the Altium NEXUS board shape (irregular board shapes are supported, board cutouts are not supported).
No custom properties are currently supported. Also note that the following predefined software material names (as defined in ANSYS software) are used: solder, solderMask, FR4_epoxy (for dielectrics), copper (for electrical layers). ANSYS software recognizes material by its name.

Exported Component Data

For each component, the following component data is exported:

  • ComponentType - mapped to the Part Type property in ANSYS.
    The component type (resistor, capacitor, inductor) is deduced from the component's designator prefix, R - resistor, L - inductor, C- capacitor. Components with any other designator prefix are assigned the Part Type property value of Other in ANSYS.
  • Component Value - mapped to the R, L or C property for RLC components in the ANSYS component model (accessed through the Model Info button in ANSYS).
    The EDB exporter checks for the component value in:
    • a named parameter - Resistance, Capacitance or Inductance, or
    • a parameter called Value, or
    • the Comment parameter
    • if not detected, a default value is used (resistance - 50Ohm, capacitance - 1nF, inductance - 1pH). These defaults are recommended by ANSYS.
  • Footprint - the footprint name is mapped to the Part property in ANSYS.

Importing the Design into ANSYS

Once the PCB design has been exported as an EDB.def file, it can be imported into any ANSYS tool that supports EDB Import.

In ANSYS, this is done via the File » Import » EDB command.

 

Perform a PCB Simulation (Ansys Simulation extension)

Tools » Run Simulation

- What type of simulation is performed (what sort analysis is being performed, electromagnetic, thermal,...?)

- requires the presence of a <PcbName>.DspFiles.txt file, what is this file, why is it needed?

- does the Run Simulation command export an intermedite file (ANSYS ANF?)

- From Jira - Creates Ansys RLC model. Write component value (take it from component parameters Resistance/Inductance/Capacitance if it exists) and enable R or L or C flag according to component type (resistor/inductance/capacitor) (what happens if the component type is not specified?) If value not specified in the correct parameter, use defaults (1nF for capacitors, 1pH for inductors, 50 Ohm for resistors).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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