How to Import an HFSS 3D Layout Model as a Component into HFSS 3D Environment and Enable Mesh Fusion

Hello everyone, this is Adel Ben-Rudmi from Ozen Engineering. In this video, I'm going to show you how to import an HFSS 3D layout design as a component into the HFSS 3D environment.

This is a beta feature in the new ANSYS release, the 23R 1. So the first thing to do, go to Tools, Options, General Options, the General Options tab, open Beta Options, scroll down and select "Layout Component in HFSS 3D". Say OK, OK. Now you'll be asked to restart the application? Say Yes.

Now let's take a look at this very simple example where we have a printed circuit board in HFSS 3D layout and we want to place some SMA connectors on it.

Before we export this design as a layout component, we need to create some coordinate systems to help place the SMA chip on it and also change file composition. This way, we'll be able to head to other scripts, if necessary, and see how to enter more data as well.

On this example, I have a printed circuit board and I want to place some SMA connectors on it. To do that, I will create a coordinate system to help place the SMA chip on it. I will go to "Draw Coordinate System", create, and place it here in the components window.

I will expand "Coordinate System", select "CS1" here. I can edit the coordinate system, change the color, and lock the position if I don't see the components window. I can go here in "View" and check "Components". Now, let's do the same thing for the second SMA connector.

I will go to "Draw Coordinate System", create, and this time I will place it right here. I will change the angle to 90 degrees since I'm going to place it here and lock the position.

Now that I created the coordinate systems, I can go ahead and export my layout component and to do that, I will go to "Layout", "Export Layout Component", choose a name and a directory, say "Save". Let's click "OK" and now my layout component is ready to be used in the HFSS 3D environment.

Before I combine the PCB and the SMA connectors, let's take a look at this SMA connector here. As you can see, this SMA connector has a global coordinate system which is located at the bottom of this pin. This is the SMA connector that I'm going to use to create this coordinate system.

So when I import the SMA connectors and the layout component, the coordinate systems of the layout component will be used as a reference for the SMA connectors to create a 3D component in HFSS 3D.

I will select the SMA connector, right-click on it, select "Create 3D Component", say "OK", choose a name and directory, then "Save". Now that I'm all set, I will open the main project and right-click on "3D Components", "Create Layout Component".

Here, I can import the layout component that I exported from HFSS 3D layout, so I will select it and click "Open". Next, I can see the coordinate systems that I created and I can see that they are included. I will say "Next", "Finish".

Again, right-click on "3D Components", "Browse 3D Component", and here I have the 3D component that I created, which is the SMA connector. I will select it, say "Open". This window, I can choose the target coordinate system. So I will choose "CS1" for the first SMA connector.

As you can see, the connector is placed directly in the right position. Again, I will place the second SMA connector. This time, I'll choose "CS2", click "OK", and again, the SMA connector is placed in the right place. Okay. Here, I should mention that we can use HFSS Mesh Fusion.

So here, we can mesh independently the PCB and the components, and to do that, right-click on "3D Components", "Set Components for Mesh Fusion", and enable them. Right here, "Apply", and "OK". Also, in this new window, we can see that we have the 3D components.

So let's click on the 3D components, and here we can see that we have the 3D components. In this video, we saw how a 3D layout component can be used in the HFSS 3D environment, and that the model can also include regular 3D components and use the iterative solver with Mesh Fusion.

Thanks for watching, and see you in the next video. Bye.