COMSOL Day: Renewable Energy

COMSOL Multiphysics^® has become widely used for modeling and simulation in the field of renewable energy due to its multiphysics modeling capabilities. The software offers a broad range of functionality for the research and design of electric motors, generators, battery systems, high-voltage cables, power electronics, hydrogen fuel cells, and water electrolyzers. It also provides capabilities for understanding and optimizing heat transfer and thermal management processes and designs.

Moreover, the unique features of COMSOL Multiphysics^® for creating standalone simulation apps based on multiphysics models and surrogate models have allowed for larger groups of engineers and scientists within an organization to benefit from simulation.

Attend this session for an overview of the use of multiphysics models, simulation apps, digital twins, and surrogate models in the field of renewable energy. You will also get a high-level preview of the topics that will be covered in this COMSOL Day.

Development efforts to meet the growing demand for electric motors and generators have accelerated with the transition to electric vehicles and wind turbine power production. Modeling and simulation plays an integral role in the R&D process, enabling engineers to address design considerations such as:

• The need for electric motors to deliver high torque across a broad speed range
• The requirement for generators to provide power at low rotational speeds
• The limited availability of rare-earth materials

The COMSOL Multiphysics^® software and the AC/DC Module provide comprehensive functionality for modeling, simulating, and optimizing radial and axial flux machines based on various operating principles, including permanent magnet, switched reluctance, and induction designs. The module’s ability to account for nonlinear magnetic effects, temperature-dependent material properties, and heat transfer makes it well suited for developing high-fidelity multiphysics models.

In this session, we will demonstrate how the COMSOL^® software can be used to analyze rotating electrical machines such as motors and generators. The presentation will highlight how the software incorporates nonlinear magnetic effects, such as hysteresis, along with temperature-dependent properties to achieve accurate simulation results.

The COMSOL^® software is used to simulate various processes in the field of renewable energy. It offers unique modeling capabilities as well as easy-to-use features for creating standalone simulation apps.

The Application Builder and COMSOL Compiler™ provide functionality for creating and deploying simulation apps, helping to bring simulation to a larger group of scientists and engineers. These apps can be incorporated into digital twins for use in equipment maintenance and process operation. The latest release of COMSOL Multiphysics^® contains functionality for creating surrogate models based on data from simulations and advanced function approximation such as deep neural network (DNN) and Gaussian process, making simulation apps lightning fast.

In this session, you’ll learn about the capabilities of the COMSOL^® software for creating simulation apps and digital twins.

The COMSOL Multiphysics^® software can be used for development across a wide range of engineering fields. In the development of power storage devices and electrical machines, the software is particularly useful for understanding and designing essential thermal management systems. Its unique multiphysics modeling capabilities make it ideal for studying heat transfer and heat generation in combination with electromagnetic fields and currents, nonisothermal flow, stresses and strains due to thermal expansion, and electrochemical processes in batteries and fuel cells.

Join this session for an overview of the functionality in COMSOL Multiphysics^® that can be used to understand and design thermal management systems in power storage devices and electrical machines.

The Fuel Cell & Electrolyzer Module, an add-on product to the COMSOL Multiphysics^® software, features a wide range of functionality for modeling electrochemical cells with porous and solid electrodes, including gas diffusion electrodes and gas-evolving electrodes. Scientists and engineers in the renewable energy field rely on the module for the study and design of cells, from the unit cell scale to the stack scale.

The module's unique modeling capabilities include descriptions of the transport of neutral and charged species for electrolytes of arbitrary composition, with built-in formulations for the most common electrolyte types. Electrode kinetics can be described using Butler–Volmer, Tafel, or user-defined expressions of the overpotential and local electrolyte concentration. Multiphysics couplings allow for simulation that combines species transport with fluid flow, including, for example, multiphase flow for gas-evolving electrodes.

In this session, you will get an overview of the modeling and simulation capabilities of the Fuel Cell & Electrolyzer Module and learn how it can be used in research and development in the field.

The COMSOL Multiphysics^® software is widely used for modeling and simulation in energy transmission and power electronics, which both have applications in the field of renewable energy.

In addition to its wide range of capabilities for the modeling of quasistatic and time-harmonic electromagnetic fields, the COMSOL^® software also features unique multiphysics capabilities for coupling thermal and structural effects with electromagnetic fields. Effects such as induction heating and Joule heating as well as structural stresses and strains caused by thermal expansion can be studied in user-friendly modeling interfaces. The impact of free and forced convection and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) on the operation and design of cables and power electronics devices can also be accounted for.

Join us in this session to get an overview of the modeling and simulation capabilities of the COMSOL^® software for the design of high-power cables and devices for power electronics.

Modeling and simulation has become an important tool in the study of the design and operation of battery systems. The COMSOL Multiphysics^® software and its add-on Battery Design Module provide user-friendly yet powerful and versatile functionality for describing batteries and electrochemical cells. The software also features multiphysics capabilities for coupling the electrochemistry within a battery with structural stress effects due to intercalation, heat generation, heat transfer, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Multiphysics models can be used to investigate thermal management and thermal runaway in individual cells as well as in battery modules and packs consisting of hundreds of cells.

In this session, learn more about the COMSOL^® software's capabilities for the modeling and simulation of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in stationary applications as well as battery cells and packs for automotive applications.