Numerical modelling of an electric motor cooling jacket

The automotive industry is amid a sweeping change of propulsion technology to meet the increasingly stringent limits on emissions and fuel consumption. Traditional combustion engines are gradually being replaced by electric motors or hybrid power trains. The efficiency and power density levels achie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of physics. Conference series 2024-01, Vol.2685 (1), p.12016
Main Authors: Grespan, M, Campanelli, L, Angeli, D, Freddi, R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automobile industry
Automotive engines
CFD
Cooling
cooling jacket
electric motor
Electric motors
Energy consumption
Equivalence
forced convection
Friction
Friction factor
Graph theory
Heat transfer
lumped parameter model
Mathematical models
Numerical models
Parameters
Powertrain
RANS
Thermal analysis
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Summary:The automotive industry is amid a sweeping change of propulsion technology to meet the increasingly stringent limits on emissions and fuel consumption. Traditional combustion engines are gradually being replaced by electric motors or hybrid power trains. The efficiency and power density levels achievable by electric motors are entirely dependent on the effectiveness of the employed cooling solution. Therefore, extensive analyses are needed to determine and optimise the thermal performance of these systems. In this work a numerical model is developed to determine the friction losses and the heat transfer properties of an electric motor cooling jacket. The cooling channels, which coil along the circumferential direction within the motor casing, are studied by means of CFD analysis of a basic periodic module. Flow and temperature fields are determined by applying a 3D Finite Volume approach. Numerical solutions are obtained by means of a validated conjugate heat transfer solver. Integral flow field results are employed to derive the equivalent Darcy friction factor and side-wall specific Nusselt numbers for several flow regimes. A lumped parameter thermal model, based on the graph theory and aforementioned CFD results is also developed to determine the overall system performance. The equivalent thermal resistances are computed from geometric parameters and CFD results. Finally preliminary numerical results on friction losses and heat transfer are compared with available experimental data.
ISSN:1742-6588
1742-6596
DOI:10.1088/1742-6596/2685/1/012016