Heat transfer enhancement of a permanent magnet synchronous machine used in vehicle traction

Heat transfer enhancement of a permanent magnet synchronous machine used in vehicle traction

Srisankar, V.B.

Polinder, H. (mentor)
Van Der Geest, M. (mentor)

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

DC Systems , Energy Conversions and Storage

2015-07-10

One of the major restrictions that hinder the versatility of electrical machines in any sector is their thermal limitations. This thesis deals with the study of the heat transfer occurring in an outer rotor permanent magnet synchronous machine used in the electric vehicle industry with the aim of exploring possibilities to reduce the hotspot temperature. The project is in collaboration with e-Traction, an electric vehicle systems designer. A 3D numerical model of the machine is designed using the Finite Element Method (FEM) with heat transfer coefficients obtained from a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. A closer look at the secondary flow with vortices in curved tubes is also presented as part of the pursuit to estimate boundary conditions required for the FEM model. The equivalent thermal conductivity of the slot region was estimated by a 2D FEM model and the external heat transfer coefficients were represented using empirical relations. The model was validated with experimental tests performed at the e-Traction's test bench facility and was found to be sufficiently accurate to predict the influence of material and mechanical design changes on the heat transfer. Results show that by using certain potting materials and making slight changes in the cooling region, hotspot temperatures can be significantly reduced.

PMSM
FEM
CFD
Heat Transfer machines
Dean Vortices
Potting

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:215ed6ef-5fcb-4366-b39e-b2706050d580

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2015 Srisankar, V.B.