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Assumptions and limitations for exporting a model
The following section describes the Thermal Model Exchanger assumptions and limitations when you export a Thermal Desktop model to a Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal XML file.
Exporting thermo-physical properties
You can use Thermal Model Exchanger to export thermo-physical properties from Thermal Desktop into Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal.

User documentation
- Introduction
  Thermal Model Exchanger is a Windows application that allows you to transfer thermal models between Ansys Thermal Desktop^TM and Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal. The application supports the transfer of meshes, material and optical properties, and boundary conditions of your model.
- Thermal Model Exchanger user interface
  The Thermal Model Exchanger user interface consists of a top border bar and an information window.
- How to use Thermal Model Exchanger
  The following section describes how to use Thermal Model Exchanger to transfer thermal models between Thermal Desktop and Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal.
- Simcenter 3D entities supported by Thermal Model Exchanger
  This page summarizes the Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal entities supported by the Thermal Model Exchanger during the import.
- Thermal Desktop entities supported by Thermal Model Exchanger
  This page summarizes the Thermal Desktop entities supported by the Thermal Model Exchanger during the export.
- Assumptions and limitations for importing a model
  The following section describes the Thermal Model Exchanger assumptions and limitations when you import a Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal model into Thermal Desktop.
- Assumptions and limitations for exporting a model
  The following section describes the Thermal Model Exchanger assumptions and limitations when you export a Thermal Desktop model to a Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal XML file.
  - Exporting meshes
    You can use Thermal Model Exchanger to export meshes from Thermal Desktop into Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal.
  - Exporting primitives
    You can use Thermal Model Exchanger to export primitives from Thermal Desktop into Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal.
  - Exporting domain tag sets
    You can use Thermal Model Exchanger to export Domain Tag Sets from Thermal Desktop into Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal as Groups.
  - Exporting symbols
    You can use Thermal Model Exchanger to export symbol values from Thermal Desktop into Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal.
  - Exporting thermo-physical properties
    You can use Thermal Model Exchanger to export thermo-physical properties from Thermal Desktop into Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal.
    - Exporting material properties
      Thermal Model Exchanger supports exporting materials from Thermal Desktop into Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal.
    - Exporting physical properties
      You can use Thermal Model Exchanger to export physical properties from Thermal Desktop into Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal.
    - Exporting optical properties
      Thermal Model Exchanger exports all the Thermal Desktop thermo-physical properties available in the model, even if some of them are not assigned to mesh elements.
  - Exporting heat loads
    Thermal Model Exchanger supports the Total Load and Flux types of Thermal Desktop Heat Load. It converts these entities into the Heat Load and Heat Flux types of Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal Thermal Loads respectively.
  - Exporting heaters
    You can use Thermal Model Exchanger to export Heaters from Thermal Desktop to Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal.
  - Exporting boundary nodes
    You can use Thermal Model Exchanger to export boundary nodes from Thermal Desktop into Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal.
  - 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.
  - Exporting radiation
    You can use the Thermal Model Exchanger to export radiation from Thermal Desktop to Simcenter 3D. The surface selection varies depending on the settings in Thermal Desktop.
  - Exporting orbits and space environment
    You can use Thermal Model Exchanger to export External Heating Environment boundary conditions from Thermal Desktop into Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal.
  - Exporting a case set
    You can use Thermal Model Exchanger to export case sets from Thermal Desktop into Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal.
- Legal notice

Exporting thermo-physical properties

You can use Thermal Model Exchanger to export thermo-physical properties from Thermal Desktop into Simcenter 3D Space Systems Thermal.

The thermo-physical properties are directly assigned to elements or nodes in Thermal Desktop. During the export, Thermal Model Exchanger (TMX) assigns the material and optical properties, and the element thickness to the Simcenter 3D mesh collector that contains the elements sharing the same properties. For more information, see Exporting meshes and Exporting primitives.

You can use TMX to export:

Material properties, such as mass density, specific heat, and thermal conductivity.
Element thickness into physical properties related to thin and non-uniform multilayer shells.
Advanced optical properties, including solar absorptivity and infrared emissivity, and map them to corresponding Simcenter 3D entities.

Exporting aliases

TMX supports exporting the values of optical and thermo-physical property aliases. In Thermal Desktop, an alias is linked to a specific property in the database. You can assign this alias to all surfaces with same physical properties.

In Thermal Desktop, when you define an alias, its value is set globally and can be applied across multiple surfaces.

If an alias is used in a Case Set, you can change its global definition from the Props tab in the Case Set dialog box to adjust its value for a specific case. Thermal Model Exchanger (TMX) exports these updated alias values when exporting the Case Set into Simcenter 3D.

In Simcenter 3D, the value of the exported alias is specified in the corresponding box for the imported optical or thermo-physical property. If the alias value is not in the International System of Units (SI) in Thermal Desktop, TMX converts it to SI when importing it into Simcenter 3D.