Conjugate Heat Transfer Model for an Induction Motor and Its Adequate FEM Model

The primary objective of the research presented in this paper was to design a methodology for analyzing the thermal field of an induction motor that would be of higher fidelity but less time- and cost-consuming and that would deal with air-cooled induction motors of all sizes. The complexity of the simulation is increased by the geometric asymmetry and by the asymmetric character of flow cooling the motor casing caused by the fan's rotation. This increases demand, especially on computational resources, as creating a simplified numerical model using symmetry boundary conditions is impossible. The new methodology uses the existing findings from many partial articles and literature, which are modified into more accurate relationships suitable for predicting the external thermal field of induction motors. That way, we do not have to solve the thermal field by the conjugate heat transfer method, and it is possible to assess temperature gradients over the entire range. Furthermore, a new relationship between shear strain rate and thermal contact conductivity has been discovered that allows solving heat transfer of fluid adjacent to the internal walls of an induction motor at any location. That approach has not yet been published in the literature, so it can be considered a new method to simplify heat transfer simulation. An experimentally validated new methodology of the induction motor was performed. The so-called digital twin will be used for the virtual optimization of the new designs concerning minimizing losses and maximizing efficiency.

Automated summary

The primary objective of this research was to design a methodology for analyzing the thermal field of induction motors that is more accurate, time and cost-effective, and applicable to all sizes of air-cooled induction motors. The complexity of the simulation is increased by the geometric asymmetry and asymmetric flow cooling caused by the rotation of the fan. The new methodology utilizes modified relationships based on existing findings to predict the external thermal field, avoiding the need for solving the thermal field through the conjugate heat transfer method.