The challenge of designing for extreme power density
Building ultra-high-performance electric motors is not a typical engineering challenge. The applications are demanding. Aviation, marine, and defense all require motors that deliver exceptional power while remaining compact and lightweight. Achieving that level of power density introduces a set of compounding difficulties that conventional design workflows are simply not built to handle.
Heat dissipation is one of the most critical concerns. The more power a motor generates in a small form factor, the more heat it produces, and managing that heat effectively is essential to performance and longevity. Structural behavior adds another layer of complexity. Vibration characteristics, resonance frequencies, and real-world operating conditions all have to be accounted for during design. Get any of these assumptions wrong, and the consequences are significant. Incorrect engineering decisions lead to catastrophic failure, wasted development time, and substantial financial loss from physical testing and rework.
One forward-thinking engineering organization who KETIV is currently working with, is tackling these challenges head-on with us. They develop ultra-high-performance electric motors for some of the most demanding applications. In this blog, we will explore how shifting to a simulation-driven design approach transformed their development process and sharpened their competitive edge.
The shift to simulation-driven design
The turning point came when the team recognized that moving faster without increasing risk required a fundamentally different approach. Relying on post-design validation was not enough. They needed simulation at the center of the design process, not the end of it.
The transition to a high-fidelity simulation platform by Ansys changed what was possible. Instead of evaluating a handful of design configurations, the team could now model hundreds or thousands of different design variables quickly in days or over a weekend. Design exploration replaced late-stage validation as the primary use of simulation. The Ansys platform also enabled true multiphysics simulation, coupling thermal, structural, and fluid dynamics together in a single high-fidelity environment. For the first time, the team could account for the full system simultaneously rather than analyzing each domain in isolation.
Leveraging High-Performance Computing also played an important role. By running remote solves and using HPC clusters, the team could parallel-process hundreds of design points overnight or across a single week. What previously took weeks of sequential analysis could now be accomplished in days.
Engineering and business results
The impact of this shift showed up across both technical outcomes and business performance.
Virtual prototyping reduced physical builds. Fewer physical prototypes were needed to reach a confident design. That reduction in physical builds translated directly into less rework, faster decisions, and lower development costs overall.
Thermal management improved significantly. The team gained much deeper insight into heat dissipation across the full motor system. More optimized cooling strategies became possible because the simulation environment could model thermal behavior with the fidelity required to act on it.
Structural optimization prevented failures. Modal analysis allowed the team to model vibration characteristics and identify natural frequencies during the design phase. Designing around those frequencies proactively prevents the kind of resonance-driven failures that can be catastrophic in aviation, marine, and defense applications.
Competitive position strengthened. The ability to iterate through thousands of design scenarios in days rather than weeks provides a significant competitive edge, allowing the company to accelerate their design process by 1000x. The team can now respond to bids faster and present performance-backed designs with greater confidence. That speed and credibility have contributed directly to an increased win rate for OEM contracts and a considerable reduction in overall R&D costs and development time.
Conclusion: Thousands of designs. No physical machine required.
The core shift this company made was a simple one in concept, but transformative in practice. By embracing a high-fidelity, simulation-driven design platform, they created a workflow where hundreds or thousands of design variables can be modeled within a single weekend or week. Essentially, they are now able to test thousands of physical designs without ever building a physical machine.
For engineering leaders in aviation, marine, or defense who are developing high-performance electric propulsion systems and facing similar bottlenecks, simulation can provide that same advantage. Get in touch with the KETIV team to explore how simulation can accelerate your designs, deliver more accurate results faster, and identify where it will have the greatest impact on your development process.