Abstract
Windage (drag) losses have been found to be a key design factor for high power density and high-speed electric motor development. Inducing axial flow between rotor and stator is a common method in cooling the rotor. Hence, it is necessary to understand the effect on windage while forced axial airflow is in present in the air gap. The current paper presents results from experimental testing and modeling of a high-speed motor designed to operate at 30,000 revolutions per minute (RPM) and utilize axial air cooling of 200 Liters per minute (LPM) to cool the motor. Details of the experimental apparatus and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of the small gap narrow region of the stator/rotor are outlined in the paper. The experimental results are used to calibrate the CFD model. Results for windage losses, flow rate of cooling air, power and torque of the motor versus mass flow rate are given in the paper. Trade studies of CFD on the effect of inlet cooling flow rate, and parasitic heat transfer losses on the Taylor–Couette flow coherent flow structure breakdown are presented. Windage losses on the order of 20 W are found to be present in the configuration tested and simulated.
Highlights
The current work is motivated by a desire to understand the windage friction losses in small scale high power electric motors
In the study of [1], testing and numerical simulations for reducing the windage power loss of a high-speed rotor using a spiral grooved viscous vacuum pump combined with an aerodynamic step thrust bearing is proposed
This paper has presented the experimental and numerical findings of the windage losses in a
Summary
The current work is motivated by a desire to understand the windage friction losses in small scale high power electric motors. The work of [10] provides fundamental insight into fundamental insight into the heat transfer behavior in the Poiseuille–Taylor–Couette flow field setthe heat transfer behavior in the Poiseuille–Taylor–Couette flow field set-up between the rotor and the up between the rotor and the small gap of high-speed electric motors. To this end, the body of the paper presents the experimental test apparatus and numerical paper presents the experimental test apparatus and numerical simulations used for the present small simulations used for the present small gap high speed motor windage loss study.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
