IcepakImportObject.PFM

Description

The "IcepakImportObject.PFM" macro permits to import into Flux PEEC a geometry originating from the Icepak software. Three different types of Icepak objects can be imported and simulated into Flux PEEC:

  • prisms
  • cylinders, whose section can be full or hollow
  • polygons, which are used to represent parallelepiped inclined conductors or multi-segment conductors with rectangular cross-section

All these Icepak objects are modeled in Flux PEEC as Geometric Tubes.

The Icepak requirements for a proper import into Flux PEEC of such objects are detailed in the following blocks.

Icepak rules for prisms and cylinders

In the Icepak environment, the name for the prisms and cylinders has to begin with letters x, y or z, in order that InCa3D could know the direction of the current flowing inside these objects.

The corresponding Geometric Tubes will be created in InCa3D with green color attribute.

Icepak rules for polygons

In the Icepak environment, two main rules have to be applied by the user:

  1. The name for the polygons can begin with letters x, y or z, but this is not mandatory since polygons are also used to describe inclined conductors, i.e. conductors not aligned with the main XYZ coordinate system
    • If the first letter of their name is x, y or z, it means that the input face of the corresponding Geometric Tube will be perpendicular to the direction indicated by this letter. In other words, in the first segment of the created Tube Conductor the current will flow in the x, y or zdirection.
    • Otherwise, the rectangular input face of the corresponding Geometric Tube will be automatically computed by this macro: one side of the rectangle will be equal to the height of the Icepak polygon object, whereas the second side will be the smallest edge of the polygon that makes it feasible to build a Tube Conductor as much regular as possible. A typical example of such strategy is shown in the picture here below:

  2. Each Icepak polygon should have an even number of vertices. In fact, in such condition it is always possible to build a regular Tube Conductor, which will be created in Flux PEEC with yellow color attribute.

    On the other hand, for the Icepak polygon objects with an odd number of vertices, this macro will display a warning message and will, nevertheless, try to create a Tube Conductor, whose shape could be similar to the original Icepak object, but some discrepancies have to be expected. The created Tube Conductor will have red color attribute.

Input

  • File which he wishes to import into Flux PEEC
  • Conversion coefficient between the dimensions of the Icepak objects, expressed in meters, and the Flux PEEC length unit of the XYZ1 coordinate system, which by default is the millimeter
  • Geometric epsilon, used for detecting the possible collisions between the Tube Points describing the imported geometry
  • Regularity coefficient for polygon import, that is used during the construction of the Geometric Tubes describing the polygon-type Icepak objects. This coefficient ensures that the created Tube Conductors are as much regular as possible and that they well represent the Icepak polygons

Output

  • Icepak Geometry imported in Flux PEEC