Analytical Thermal Model of Slot for Electric Propulsion Motor in Electric Aircraft

Abstract

Accurate prediction of temperature is critical for evaluating electric propulsion motor performance. This paper presents an analytical thermal model of slot for the prediction of temperature. According to the heat transfer in the slot, the shortcomings of the traditional winding model are pointed out. This paper adopts a more advanced layered model. The number of layers is calculated analytically. Based on Laplace's equation and Poisson's equation, the thermal resistance and temperature rise of each layer are analytically calculated. The layered windings and insulation are equivalent to a heat-generating entity whose thermal resistance and temperature rise are equal to those of the layered slot. The equivalent thermal conductivity of heat-generating entity can be obtained. The slot is equivalent to a heat-generating entity through the analytical method, which reduces the computational complexity of the simulation. The experiments are employed to validate the accuracy of the proposed model.