Measurements and simulations of the heat transfer on end windings of an induction machine

Abstract

PurposeFor an accurate simulation of the temperature distribution inside an electrical machine a method for deriving the convective heat transfer coefficient numerically would be desirable. The purpose of this paper is to present a reliable simulation setup, which is able to reproduce the measured convective heat transfer coefficient at certain spots on the end windings of an electric machine.Design/methodology/approachThe heat flux density on certain spots on the end windings of an induction motor have been measured with heat flux sensors, in order to find out the convective heat transfer coefficient. To identify the air mass flow inside a cooling duct of an encapsulated cooling circuit during the operation of the motor, the pressure loss inside the duct has been measured. The measured data for temperature and air mass flow have been used as boundary conditions for the identification of the convective heat transfer coefficient with a commercial software for computational fluid dynamics (CFD).FindingsThe measured data for the local convective heat transfer coefficients have been compared to the results of the numerical simulation for various rotational velocities. The quality of the simulated convective heat transfer coefficient depending on the rotational velocity meets the measured values. Owing to the used simplified model, the quantity of the measured values differ strongly around the simulated coefficient for the convective heat transfer.Originality/valueThe derivation of the convective heat transfer is a challenging subject in CFD but has become more reliable with the invention of the SST and the SAS‐SST turbulence model. In the present work, measurements on the end windings have been compared to simulation results derived with the SAS‐SST turbulence model.