General Questions
What is the main difference between TRAFOLO and other commercial tools?
TRAFOLO is exclusively focused on magnetic components such as transformers and inductors. Instead of offering a massive, general-purpose physics environment, it acts as a highly specialized platform that automates the most time-consuming setup tasks (like grouping, meshing, and circuit integration). It provides advanced analysis capabilities and powerful visualization through a streamlined, user-friendly interface that requires significantly less training than traditional commercial packages.
What applications can TRAFOLO simulate aside from inductors and transformers?
TRAFOLO can also simulate applications such as wireless charging coils, busbars, inductive heating elements, and electromagnetic actuators (currently supported only in static mode).
Does the software have pre-defined examples for common cases?
Yes. TRAFOLO includes a library of pre-defined component templates (e.g., Flyback, LLC, Dual Active Bridge, 3-Phase Chokes). These serve as a starting point, ensuring you use the correct geometry and baseline parameters before modifying the design to suit your specific needs.
How accurate are the simulation results?
TRAFOLO delivers highly accurate, industry-grade results. TRAFOLO relies on the proven open-source solver ElmerFEM for electromagnetic and thermal simulations. When equivalent numerical models are used, there is no inherent difference in accuracy compared to commercial tools.
The perception that well-known simulation packages might be more accurate is often driven by branding and familiarity rather than technical fundamentals. In practice, as with any FEM software, accuracy primarily depends on the quality of the inputs – such as appropriate selection of numerical methods, mesh resolution, material data (e.g., B-H curves), boundary conditions, and excitation definitions.
Geometry & Meshing
What type of geometries can the software handle?
TRAFOLO features parametric templates for standard core shapes to get you started immediately. Additionally, the built-in CAD Editor allows you to import complex 3D STEP/IGES files or 2D DXF files. You can even apply vertical offsets and extrude 2D DXF layers to easily build stacked 3D assemblies for planar or integrated magnetics.
How is the meshing process handled and optimized?
TRAFOLO automatically handles mesh generation based on your geometry while allowing manual fine-tuning. The meshing process is pre-optimized for magnetics – for instance, it adds dense boundary layers to massive wire geometries to accurately resolve high-frequency skin and proximity effects.
Are there limitations on the size or complexity of models?
There are no limitations on TRAFOLO’s side, so the primary limitation is the available RAM on your local machine. Most models can fit onto 64GB of RAM. In terms of computational time, users can fully utilize their multi-core CPUs without limits, thanks to the ElmerFEM solver’s good parallel scaling.
How does TRAFOLO handle Litz wire or complex stranded windings?
Drawing and meshing individual strands of Litz wire in a 3D FEM environment is computationally prohibitive. TRAFOLO utilizes advanced homogenization techniques. By inputting your Litz wire parameters, the software runs a separate 2D simulation and approximates the bulk winding window to accurately calculate high-frequency AC losses (including proximity effects) without the massive computational overhead.
Simulation Physics & Setup
What type of excitation can be applied to the model?
TRAFOLO supports both current and voltage sources. You can define these as steady-state harmonics (using amplitude and phase) or as complex time-domain transient waveforms. You can define signals parametrically or import measured waveforms directly from CSV, TXT, or Excel files.
How does the software handle complex, non-sinusoidal waveforms?
The Waveform Generator features a built-in Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) tool. It can analyze your custom transient waveform, extract its harmonic content, and pass those discrete frequencies into a harmonized frequency-domain simulation, saving significant computation time compared to transient stepping.
How does the software handle non-linear material behavior?
TRAFOLO fully supports non-linear material properties, such as magnetic core saturation. You can input specific B-H curves, and the software utilizes non-linear solvers that iterate multiple times per step to accurately correct and converge on the field results.
Does TRAFOLO support multi-physics, such as electromagnetic-thermal simulations?
Yes. TRAFOLO utilizes “weak coupling” for multi-physics. The electromagnetic and thermal phenomena are solved separately to maintain efficiency. The core and winding losses calculated during the electromagnetic simulation are automatically mapped as heat sources for the subsequent thermal simulation, allowing you to accurately evaluate temperature distributions and hotspots.
Computation & Advanced Workflows
Can I run large-scale simulations on a cloud cluster or HPC?
Yes. Because TRAFOLO interfaces with open-source packages, you can use the graphical interface to effortlessly prepare and configure complex simulation cases, export the generated solver files, then copy and run run them remotely on High-Performance Computers (HPC) or cloud clusters.
How are post-processing and visualization handled?
Once a solver run is complete, TRAFOLO automatically handles basic data extraction (inductance, losses, coupling factors). For detailed 3D visualization, you can open the results directly in ParaView with a single click. ParaView is an industry-standard open-source tool that allows for deep manipulation, slicing, and visualization of magnetic flux density, current density, and temperature gradients.