Dual Fluid Rotating Shaft With Isolated Internal Channels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional electrical machines face limitations in simultaneous effective cooling and lubrication, as existing solutions require a single fluid to serve both purposes, compromising design efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A rotating shaft system with internally isolated coolant and lubricant channels allows for separate fluid flow paths, ensuring coolant is directed to heat-generating components and lubricant to bearings, maintaining fluid isolation between the two.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single fluid is used for both cooling and lubrication, then the design is simplified, but the cooling and lubrication performance are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The shaft is divided into separate internal fluid channels: a first internal fluid channel for coolant flow and a second internal fluid channel for lubricant flow. This segmentation allows each fluid to be delivered independently to its required location, resolving the contradiction by maintaining simple shaft structure while enabling separate coolant and lubricant delivery paths
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces seals as intermediary components that maintain fluid isolation between the two internal channels while allowing the shaft to rotate. These seals enable the shaft to serve as an intermediary structure that transports both fluids independently without mixing, thus achieving separate fluid delivery without requiring completely separate delivery mechanisms
2Reliability
If separate coolant and lubricant channels are used, then cooling and lubrication performance are optimized, but the shaft structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the coolant delivery function and lubricant delivery function into a single shaft structure with integrated internal channels. Rather than requiring separate external delivery systems, both fluids are channeled through the shaft itself, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining separate fluid paths for optimized performance
Solution Approach 2:
The shaft structure provides self-service by incorporating its own internal fluid delivery system. The shaft contains embedded channels that automatically route coolant to cooling locations and lubricant to bearing locations without requiring external pumping or delivery infrastructure, thus optimizing performance while minimizing added complexity
3Device complexity
If coolant and lubricant are delivered through the same channel, then the system is simpler, but fluid mixing occurs reducing effectiveness
Solution Approach 1:
The internal fluid delivery system is segmented into distinct channels: a first internal fluid channel exclusively for coolant and a second internal fluid channel exclusively for lubricant. This physical segmentation prevents fluid mixing while maintaining a unified shaft structure, eliminating the harmful effect of fluid contamination
Solution Approach 2:
Seals are introduced as intermediary components positioned at strategic locations within the shaft to maintain fluid isolation between the two channels. These seals act as barriers that prevent coolant and lubricant from mixing while allowing the shaft to rotate freely, thus eliminating fluid mixing without requiring completely separate delivery systems
Data Source
AI summary
A system includes a shaft body defining a longitudinal axis. A first internal fluid channel extends axially within the shaft body and includes an inlet opening through the shaft body for fluid communication of external fluid into the first internal fluid channel and an outlet opening through the shaft body for fluid communication of fluid from the first internal fluid channel to an area external of the shaft body. A second internal fluid channel extends axially within the shaft body and includes an inlet opening through the shaft body for fluid communication of external fluid into the second internal fluid channel and an outlet opening through the shaft body for fluid communication of fluid from the second internal fluid channel to an area external of the shaft body. The first and second internal fluid channels are in fluid isolation from one another within the shaft body.