Exporting contactors
Thermal Model Exchanger exports Thermal Desktop Contactors as a Thermal Coupling type of Thermal Coupling simulation objects in Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal.
The Thermal Desktop Contactors offers several options and magnitude types, which require special treatments.
Selection regions
In Thermal Desktop, the contactors connects the source elements of the From list to the target elements of the To list. Thermal Model Exchanger (TMX) assigns the source elements to the Primary Region and target elements to the Secondary Region in the Simcenter 3D Thermal Coupling dialog box. It supports both 2D elements and element edges for source regions, and only 2D elements for target regions.
Contactor magnitudes
- Absolute - Total conductance output equals input value
- Thermal Desktop
Contactors with the Input Value Type set
to Absolute - (Total conductance output equals input value) are
imported in Simcenter 3D as thermal coupling simulation objects with Total Conductance
magnitude type.
TMX supports constant, time-dependent, and temperature difference dependent values for the conduction coefficient. Any other table definition is not supported. The application exports the contactor with the conduction coefficient set as a constant value equal to the first value of the table and it displays a warning in the export summary.
- Per Area Or Length
- TMX exports contactors with the Input Value Type set to
Per Area or Length to Simcenter 3D as thermal couplings with the following options:
- For Thermal Desktop Contactors with the the Contact From set to Edges, TMX creates Simcenter 3D Thermal Coupling with Edge Contact magnitude type.
- For Thermal Desktop Contactors with the Contact From set to Faces, TMX creates Simcenter 3D Thermal Coupling with Heat Transfer Coefficient magnitude type.
TMX supports constant, time-dependent and temperature difference dependent values. Any other table definition is not supported. The application exports the contactors with the magnitude set as a constant value equal to the first value of the table, and it shows a warning in the export summary.
Inputs for connection algorithm
When a Thermal Desktop contactor uses the Ray Trace Algorithm, TMX creates a Simcenter 3D Thermal Coupling that uses the Only Connect Overlapping Elements option.
During export, TMX does not consider the Tolerance value set on the Inputs For Connection Algorithm group in the Contactor dialog box.