Solved with COMSOL Multiphysics 5.

Electrical Heating in a Busbar

Introduction
This model analyzes a busbar designed to conduct a direct current from a transformer
to an electrical device; see Figure 1. The current conducted in the busbar produces
heat due to the resistive losses, a phenomenon referred to as Joule heating. The Joule
heating effect is described by conservation laws for electric current and energy. Once
solved for, the two conservation laws give the temperature and electric field,
respectively.

Figure 1: Photo of a busbar installation, and the geometry of the busbar used in this model.
The goal of your simulation is to precisely calculate how much the busbar heats up and
to study the influence of a design parameter, the width of the device, on the
phenomenon.

Model Definition
The busbar is made of copper while the bolts are made of titanium. This choice of
materials is important since titanium has a lower electrical conductivity than copper
and is subjected to a higher current density.
All surfaces, except the bolt contact surfaces, are cooled by natural convection in the
air surrounding the busbar. You can assume that the bolt cross-section boundaries do
not contribute to cooling or heating of the device. The electric potential at the

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upper-right vertical bolt surface is 20 mV, and that the potential at the two horizontal
surfaces of the lower bolts is 0 V.

All other boundaries: natural convection

Copper
Titanium

Ground

Electric potential: 20mV

Figure 2: Material and boundary settings in the model.

Results and Discussion

The plot shown in Figure 3 displays the temperature in the busbar, which is
substantially higher than the ambient temperature 293 K. The temperature difference
in the device is less than 10 K, due to the high thermal conductivity of copper and
titanium. The temperature variations are largest on the top bolt, which conducts
double the amount of current compared to the two lower ones.

Figure 3: Temperature distribution in the busbar.

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The color range of the plot in Figure 4 better illustrates the low temperature variation
in the copper part of the device. The temperature distribution is symmetric with a
vertical mirror plane running between the two lower titanium bolts and running across
the middle of the upper bolt. In this case, the model does not require much computing
power and you can model the whole geometry. For more complex models, you should
consider using symmetries in order to reduce the size of the model.

Figure 4: Temperature distribution in the copper part of the busbar.

Increasing the width of the busbar while keeping the applied potential constant leads
to a lower temperature in the device, as shown in Figure 5. While the increased
cross-sectional area leads to more heat produced by resistive losses, there is an even

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larger increase in the cooling effect as the total surface area increases, resulting in the
lowering of the temperature.

Figure 5: Average temperature in the busbar plotted against its width.

Notes About the COMSOL Implementation

The busbar geometry you are using in this model comes from Solid Edge . The
LiveLink interface transfers the geometry from Solid Edge to COMSOL Multiphysics.
Using the interface you are also able to update the dimension of the busbar in the Solid
Edge file. In order for this to work you need to have both programs running during
modeling, and you need to make sure that the busbar assembly file is the active file in
Solid Edge.

Model Library path: LiveLink_for_Solid_Edge/Tutorial_Models/

busbar_llse

Modeling Instructions
1 In Solid Edge open the file busbar_assembly.asm, which you find if you browse

to the models Model Library folder.

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2 Switch to the COMSOL Desktop, then start a new model.

NEW

1 In the New window, click the Model Wizard.

MODEL WIZARD

1 In the Model Wizard window, click the 3D button.

2 In the Select physics tree, select Heat Transfer>Electromagnetic Heating>Joule Heating.
3 Click the Add.
4 Click the Study.
5 In the tree, select Preset Studies for Selected Physics Interfaces>Stationary.
6 Click the Done.
GEOMETRY 1

LiveLink for Solid Edge 1

1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Component 1>Geometry 1 and choose
LiveLink Interfaces>LiveLink for Solid Edge.
2 In the Settings window for LiveLink for Solid Edge, locate the Synchronize section.

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3 Click the Synchronize.

By this action you transfer the geometry of the busbar from Solid Edge to
COMSOL Multiphysics.

4 In the Settings window for LiveLink for Solid Edge, click to expand the Parameters
in CAD Package section.

The table contains a dimension, width.busbar.par, which is part of the Solid

Edge model. The dimension refers to the width of the busbar and it was selected to
be linked to COMSOL in Solid Edge and saved in the Solid Edge file. Such linked
dimensions are retrieved and will appear in the CAD name column of the table, when
you click the Synchronize button. The corresponding entry in the COMSOL name
column, the parameter LL_width_busbar_par, is a global parameter that is
generated automatically in the COMSOL model. When it is created during
synchronization, LL_width_busbar_par is assigned the current value of the
corresponding Solid Edge dimension. This value, 70 mm is displayed in the COMSOL
value column.
Global parameters in a COMSOL model allow you to parameterize settings and can
be controlled by the parametric solver to perform parametric sweeps. Thus, by
linking Solid Edge dimensions to COMSOL global parameters, the parametric
solver can automatically update and synchronize the geometry for each new value
in a sweep.

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GLOBAL DEFINITIONS

Parameters
1 In the Model Builder window, expand the Global Definitions node, then click
Parameters.
2 In the Settings window for Parameters, locate the Parameters section.

The table already contains the automatically generated global parameter that is
linked to the Solid Edge dimension.
Continue with loading additional parameters for setting up the physics.
3 Click Load from File.
4 Browse to the models Model Library folder and double-click the file
busbar_parameters.txt.

You will set up a parametric sweep with the width parameter,

LL_width_busbar_par. A parametric sweep can be over multiple parameters, and,
although not detailed in this step-by-step instruction, you may also set up parameter
sweeps to study for example the influence of the applied potential, Vtot, or the
maximum mesh size parameter, mh.
MATERIALS

Add Material
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Component 1>Materials and choose Add
Material.
2 Go to the Add Material window.
3 In the Search text field, type copper.
4 Click the Search.
5 In the tree, select Built-In>Copper.
6 In the Add material window, click Add to Component.
7 In the Search text field, type titanium.
8 Click the Search.
9 In the tree, select Built-In>Titanium beta-21S.
10 In the Add material window, click Add to Component.

Titanium beta-21S
1 In the Model Builder window, expand the Component 1>Materials node, then click
Titanium beta-21S.

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2 Select Domains 24, highlighted in the figure below.

H E A T TR A N S F E R I N S O L I D S

Heat Flux 1
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Component 1>Heat Transfer in Solids and

choose the boundary condition Heat Flux.

2 In the Settings window for Heat Flux, locate the Boundary Selection section.
3 From the Selection list, select All boundaries.
4 Remove Boundaries 8,14, and 28, marked in the figure below, from the Selection

list.

5 Check that the Selection list contains all other boundaries, that is, Boundaries 17,

913, and 1527.

6 In the Settings window for Heat Flux, locate the Heat Flux section.
7 Click the Convective heat flux button.
8 In the h text field, type htc.
ELECTRIC CURRENTS

Ground 1
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Component 1>Electric Currents and choose

the boundary condition Ground.

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2 Select Boundaries 8 and 14, highlighted in the figure below.

Electric Potential 1
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Component 1>Electric Currents and choose

the boundary condition Electric Potential.

2 Select Boundary 28, highlighted in the figure below.

3 In the Settings window for Electric Potential, locate the Electric Potential section.
4 In the V0 text field, type Vtot.
MESH 1

Size
1 In the Model Builder window, under Component 1 right-click Mesh 1 and choose Edit
Physics-Induced Sequence.
2 In the Model Builder window, under Component 1>Mesh 1 click Size.
3 In the Settings window for Size, locate the Element Size section.
4 Click the Custom.
5 Locate the Element Size Parameters section. In the Minimum element size text field,

type mh-mh/3.
6 In the Curvature factor text field, type 0.2.

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7 Click the Build All.

STUDY 1

In the Model Builder window, right-click Study 1 and choose Compute.

RESULTS

Temperature (ht)
1 In the Model Builder window, expand the Results>Temperature (ht) node, then click
Surface 1.
2 In the Settings window for Surface, click to expand the Range section.
3 Select the Manual color range check box.
4 In the Maximum text field, type 315.8.

You should see a plot similar to the plot in Figure 4.

DEFINITIONS

1 In the Model Builder window, under Component 1 right-click Definitions and choose
Probes>Domain Probe.
2 In the Settings window for Domain Probe, locate the Expression section.
3 In the Expression text field, type T.

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4 On the Domain Probe toolbar, click the Update Results.

The average temperature is displayed in the Tables window.

STUDY 1

Parametric Sweep
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Study 1 and choose Parametric Sweep.
2 In the Settings window for Parametric Sweep, locate the Study Settings section.
3 Click Add.
4 Click Range.
5 Go to the Range dialog box.
6 In the Start text field, type 40[mm].
7 In the Step text field, type 10[mm].
8 In the Stop text field, type 70[mm].
9 Click the Replace.
10 Right-click Study 1 and choose Compute.

As the parametric sweep progresses you should see the Tables window updated with
the average temperature in the device for each parameter value.
RESULTS

Temperature (ht) 1
1 In the Model Builder window, click Results>Temperature (ht) 1.
2 In the Settings window for 3D Plot Group, locate the Data section.
3 From the Parameter value (LL_width_busbar_par (m)) list, choose 0.05.
4 On the 3D plot group toolbar, click the Plot.
5 In the Model Builder window, expand the Temperature (ht) 1 node, then click Surface
1.
6 In the Settings window for Surface, locate the Range section.
7 Select the Manual color range check box.

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8 In the Maximum text field, type 323.5.

Probe 1D Plot Group 4

1 In the Model Builder window, click Results>Probe 1D Plot Group 4.
2 In the Settings window for 1D Plot Group, locate the Plot Settings section.
3 Select the x-axis label check box.
4 In the associated text field, type Busbar width (m).
5 Select the y-axis label check box.
6 In the associated text field, type Average temperature (K).

You should see a plot similar to the plot in Figure 5.

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